Romantic comedies-or rather tasteless romantic comedies without a single vestige of humor in sight-are taking over the film industry and our minds like some sort of noxious cinematic virus from hell. Well, anyway, they`re pretty bad. But lo and behold-salvation is on the way in the form of ”Tune in Tomorrow,” a romantic comedy with a slightly schizophrenic twist.
I suppose the first ingredient of a romantic comedy must be a romance. What a novel concept. The romance in this case is between Martin (Keanu Reeves), an idealistic young radio writer, and his much older, chain-smoking, husband-switching Aunt Julia (Barbara Hershey). This plot alone would have made the movie a fine cinematic virus from hell.
Fortunately, matters take a turn in an unforeseen direction with the appearance of Pedro Carmichael (Peter Falk), an off-center, larger-than-life writer who spouts profound speeches about Art and believes in ”becoming”
each one of his characters. What makes the movie different and oddly comic are the constant switchovers from the actual romance-plot to the fascinatingly trashy radio soap opera that Pedro rescues from the ratings gutter. The two realities meld, giving the movie a hilarious, schizophrenic mood.
Well, there you have it-an original, funny romantic comedy that does not plummet into the cinematic virus syndrome. I would not get too confident, however. THEY are still out there. (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
