"You've got only one life to live. You can either make it chicken shit or chicken salad."- Vince

The Recap

As the 80s drew to a close, the decade could be construed as a resounding success for Joel Schumacher. Having made the jump into Hollywood, he had two widely successful films under his belt, St. Elmo's Fire and The Lost Boys, and was becoming known as the go-to director for films with young, hip casts, which made his next project a very interesting choice, indeed.

Used to big families get-togethers, Larry Kozinski (Ted Danson) attends the wedding of his Uncle Phil. There he meets the bride's daughter, Maria Hardy (Isabella Rossellini). The two strike up a rapport, unaware that they have more in common than they think, as Larry's wife, Tish (Sean Young) and Maria's husband, Tom (William Petersen), are having an affair behind their backs. After the two cheating spouses sneak off during the wedding, the two continue chatting and a friendship begins.

Larry and Maria start to see each other on a regular basis at family functions and grow even closer when they discover what their spouses are up to. In a fit of revenge, they begin to pretend they're having an affair, but soon realise that they are more than just friends and are, in fact, falling in love with each other.

When they finally make their shame affair real shockwaves are felt throughout their families, with Larry's son Mitch (Keith Coogan) and Maria's daughter Chloe (Katie Murray) both against their parent's new situation. Not wanting to make their families lives difficult, the two decide to split up.

They're reunited again at the wedding of Larry's father Vince (Lloyd Bridges) and Larry, who has since split up from his wife, asks Maria to dance. Enraged, Tom tries to stop her accepting, but she finally decides to do what makes her happy and by accepting the dance she effectively ends her marriage.

The movie ends with Larry and Maria sailing away into the sunset with Mitch and Chloe and starting a new chapter in their life and a new family dynamic.

Thoughts & Reaction

Based on the popular French film Cousin Cousine, Cousins is a sweet, thoughtful and almost forgotten romantic comedy from the 1980s.

A sweet but subtle story is unfolded very gently over a series of months with the focus, not only on the growing relationship between its leads, but also the relationships that define and make up what a family is and the links that bind people together.

The pace of the story gathers momentum as it goes along, not rushing to get to the sweet point of any romantic film where the leads realise they love each other, but instead it makes an organic world for the characters to live in and for the situations to seem based in reality rather than fiction.

Schumacher's visual style finds itself again coming through in spades in this movie and, although not quite as slick as his previous work in The Lost Boys, you know you are watching his work.

Filmed in and around Vancouver, Canada, the beauty of the city on film was so impressive to studios and directors that it became more popular to film there, which can still be felt in both film and television production today.

Set against the cinematography is a beautiful score composed by David Lynch favourite, Angelo Badalamenti, who was better known at the time for his work in Twin Peaks. His score builds slowly over the film, much like the relationship itself, and ends with a full waltz number at the end which is truly breathtaking.

The only real weak link in the entire production is the casting of the leads. Having had huge success in his previous film outing, Three Men And A Baby, and being the most popular and loved barman in TV history in the hugely popular Cheers, Danson would have been any director's first choice for this role. However, the chemistry just isn't there with Rossellini and, although both are very likeable, something just doesn't click.

The supporting cast, however, are superb and make you forget about the fact the leads are not as fully formed as they could be. Larry's father is expertly played by Lloyd Bridges and each scene he is in he steals so effortlessly you can forgive him for being a bit of a ham sometimes. His scenes with his grandson Mitch are especially touching and, again, add another layer of emotion of the film and the family relationships within it.

Although rather stereotypical in their characterisation, Larry and Maria's philandering wife and husband are played to a tee by Sean Young and William Petersan, with Young being particularly great in the role of a floozy housewife.

Despite doing moderately well at the box office and with the critics, Cousins seems to have fallen off the movie map radar and thus became one of Schumacher's little known projects, which is a shame, as it really is a nice little film and possibly deserves a bit more credit than it has.

Schumacher's next project would see him on more familiar ground again, this time with a new breed of young actors seeing if there really is life after death with the thriller Flatliners.

Cousins Key Info:

Released: 10th February 1989 (US) / 1st September 1989 (UK)
Distributed By: Paramount Pictures
Budget: $13,000,000
Box Office Gross: $22,026,369
Best DVD Edition: Cousins DVD

• Revisiting Joel Schumacher’s The Incredible Shrinking Woman
• Looking back at Joel Schumacher's DC Cab
• Looking back at Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire
• Revisiting Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys