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Moment by Moment
Incredible that the careers of John Travolta and Lily Tomlin survived a 1978 debacle called Moment by Moment, one of the earliest attempts of Jane Wagner to make her wife Lily Tomlin a movie star that was an epic fail, that produces equal doses of yawns and unintentional giggles.
In her third feature film appearance, Tomlin plays Trish Rawlings, a wealthy Beverly Hills divorcee, living on the beach and unable to sleep due to her cheating ex. At Schwab's Drugstore, she runs into a sexy young drifter named Strip (maybe cinema's worst character name ever, they don't even give him a last name), who stalks her until he wears her resistance down so that they can begin a May/December romance that provides the expected bumps.
Director and screenwriter Wagner probably thought she had a winning formula here. Tomlin, who had just received an Oscar nomination for her film debut in Nashville, was on the fast track and Travolta, was fresh off the biggest hit of his career, Grease, which would eventually become the biggest musical moneymaker at the box office, taking the title from The Sound of Music. Unfortunately, Wagner's screenplay is paper thin and doesn't give the viewer a lot to invest in. Strip's appeal is destroyed during the initial 15 minutes of the film where he is basically stalking her and we don't understand why Trish doesn't call the police on the guy, when he actually shows up at the back door of her beach house, claiming his invisible friend "Greg" lives there. We never meet Greg and don't believe a word of Strip's story regarding buddy Greg, but once Strip tells her Greg is dead, she's ripping off his clothes and her panties are coming off.
Wagner is to be credited for not going a couple of expected directions with the story. Strip never asks Trish for money and Trish never offers him money to stay, though she does pay to have his car repaired. We know we're in trouble though when after a couple of bedroom romps, Strip threatens to cut Trish off unless she actually says those three little words. In addition to Wagner's lackluster direction, the other major problem with this film is an undeniable lack of chemistry between the stars. Anyone who ever doubted that Tomlin was a lesbian will have said doubts quashed after viewing this movie. Every time Tomlin touches or kisses Travolta, she appears physically repulsed by the guy.
At least Travolta has rarely been prettier in a sex on legs performance based purely on Travolta's appeal rather than this one dimensional character, but Tomlin's one-note performance brings absolutely nothing to the table. Any doubts about the quality of this film were confirmed when I went to the IMDB and checked the resume of James Luisi, who had a supporting role in this film as a second rate mobster. This film isn't even on his IMDB page, so take from that what you will. The film is not on Travolta's IMDB page either.
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Incredible that the careers of John Travolta and Lily Tomlin survived a 1978 debacle called Moment by Moment, one of the earliest attempts of Jane Wagner to make her wife Lily Tomlin a movie star that was an epic fail, that produces equal doses of yawns and unintentional giggles.
In her third feature film appearance, Tomlin plays Trish Rawlings, a wealthy Beverly Hills divorcee, living on the beach and unable to sleep due to her cheating ex. At Schwab's Drugstore, she runs into a sexy young drifter named Strip (maybe cinema's worst character name ever, they don't even give him a last name), who stalks her until he wears her resistance down so that they can begin a May/December romance that provides the expected bumps.
Director and screenwriter Wagner probably thought she had a winning formula here. Tomlin, who had just received an Oscar nomination for her film debut in Nashville, was on the fast track and Travolta, was fresh off the biggest hit of his career, Grease, which would eventually become the biggest musical moneymaker at the box office, taking the title from The Sound of Music. Unfortunately, Wagner's screenplay is paper thin and doesn't give the viewer a lot to invest in. Strip's appeal is destroyed during the initial 15 minutes of the film where he is basically stalking her and we don't understand why Trish doesn't call the police on the guy, when he actually shows up at the back door of her beach house, claiming his invisible friend "Greg" lives there. We never meet Greg and don't believe a word of Strip's story regarding buddy Greg, but once Strip tells her Greg is dead, she's ripping off his clothes and her panties are coming off.
Wagner is to be credited for not going a couple of expected directions with the story. Strip never asks Trish for money and Trish never offers him money to stay, though she does pay to have his car repaired. We know we're in trouble though when after a couple of bedroom romps, Strip threatens to cut Trish off unless she actually says those three little words. In addition to Wagner's lackluster direction, the other major problem with this film is an undeniable lack of chemistry between the stars. Anyone who ever doubted that Tomlin was a lesbian will have said doubts quashed after viewing this movie. Every time Tomlin touches or kisses Travolta, she appears physically repulsed by the guy.
At least Travolta has rarely been prettier in a sex on legs performance based purely on Travolta's appeal rather than this one dimensional character, but Tomlin's one-note performance brings absolutely nothing to the table. Any doubts about the quality of this film were confirmed when I went to the IMDB and checked the resume of James Luisi, who had a supporting role in this film as a second rate mobster. This film isn't even on his IMDB page, so take from that what you will. The film is not on Travolta's IMDB page either.
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