Going back in time to revisit moments from high school, armed with more knowledge and self-assurance, is a fantasy perhaps many imagine, and this is the strongest thing Peggy Sue Got Married has going for it. Unfortunately the story, acting, and directing are all weak, despite all of the big names who worked on it.
Nicolas Cage affects a ridiculous accent and is simply awful (awful!), particularly in his scenes with Kathleen Turner. Seriously, he is comically bad, though that did make imitating him while the film was playing kind of fun. Turner's acting is barely any better (an Oscar nomination for this?), and she looks noticeably too young to be Helen Hunt's mother in the present, and noticeably too old to be Barbara Harris's daughter in the past. The film is buoyed slightly by the rest of its cast, including brief appearances from Jim Carrey and Maureen O'Sullivan (wow!), and it's too bad there wasn't more of them, or something smarter to offer in her interactions with the nerdy kid (Barry Miller) she talks about time travel with.
As for the story, after mysteriously finding herself back in time, Turner's character doesn't show any alarm and has no concerns at all about altering the future, e.g. making her kids disappear in an existential poof if she doesn't marry Cage's character again. One of the few moments with spark is when she has a one night stand with an intellectual rebel interested in beat literature, but even then Francis Ford Coppola drowns it all in sappy dialogue and music, things which pervade the film. It's meant as light fantasy so quite a bit can be forgiven, but the lead performances can't be, Cage's especially.
Nicolas Cage affects a ridiculous accent and is simply awful (awful!), particularly in his scenes with Kathleen Turner. Seriously, he is comically bad, though that did make imitating him while the film was playing kind of fun. Turner's acting is barely any better (an Oscar nomination for this?), and she looks noticeably too young to be Helen Hunt's mother in the present, and noticeably too old to be Barbara Harris's daughter in the past. The film is buoyed slightly by the rest of its cast, including brief appearances from Jim Carrey and Maureen O'Sullivan (wow!), and it's too bad there wasn't more of them, or something smarter to offer in her interactions with the nerdy kid (Barry Miller) she talks about time travel with.
As for the story, after mysteriously finding herself back in time, Turner's character doesn't show any alarm and has no concerns at all about altering the future, e.g. making her kids disappear in an existential poof if she doesn't marry Cage's character again. One of the few moments with spark is when she has a one night stand with an intellectual rebel interested in beat literature, but even then Francis Ford Coppola drowns it all in sappy dialogue and music, things which pervade the film. It's meant as light fantasy so quite a bit can be forgiven, but the lead performances can't be, Cage's especially.