A Married Couple That Isn't Happy? That Isn't Very Realistic!!
A marriage isn't usually all sunshine and lollipops (and no I don't know what I mean by that), much of the time there are hardships and unhappiness that you have to deal with. In The Story of Us a couple have that exact problem. They are obviously in love, but the can't seem to get past the fighting. This is a refreshing change from the perfect, 1950's style, Donna Reed type families that you see in a lot of movies where their biggest problem is which detergent to use. Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer also turn in a good performance of the not so happy couple working through their not so perfect marriage which makes The Story of Us a movie that isn't bad.
Ben Jordan (Bruce Willis) talks to his friend Stan (Rob Reiner)
The focus of this little story are the Jordans. Ben (Bruce Willis, Armageddon, Mercury Rising, The Die Hard Trilogy) is the dad, Katie (Michelle Pfeiffer, Dangerous Minds, One Fine Day) is the mom and their children are ten year old Erin (Coleen Rennison, Unfogettable) and twelve year old Josh (Jake Sandvig, Motion Picture Debut). On the surface they look like a perfectly normal, happy suburban family. In fact, even Erin and Josh don't know that their parents are even really having problems. However, when the kids go off to summer camp Ben and Katie decide to separate. We then get thrown into a bunch of flash backs from when they first met, to their first date, to their "second honeymoon" a year ago in Italy, to their hundreds of recent fights. All throuhg this Ben is consulting with his friend Stan (Director Rob Reiner, Sleepless in Seattle, EDtv) and Katie is talking to her friend Rachel (Rita Wilson, Runaway Bride, Sleepless in Seattle), who is also Stan's wife. Through this whole thing it doesn't seem possible that Ben and Katie are going to get back together, so they decide to tell the kids about their separation after they get back from camp... even though it is quite obvious that neither of them really wants to separate. Could this be the end of the Jordans? You'll have to tune in for yourself to find out.
Katie Jordan (Michelle Pfeiffer) consults her friend Rachel (Rita Wilson)
Probably the best part about The Story of Us is that it doesn't fit the mold of every other movie about a married couple. Ben and Katie are fighting through the entire movie and you really don't know if they are going to get together or end up in a long and drawn out divorce where they fight for custody of the kids. And Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer do a good job of showing that their characters may be fighting a lot, and they don't want to be in a fight filled marriage while still showing that Ben and Katie really do love each other. It may not be the most complicated movie, with not much of a plot, but it is still a pretty good movie. You start to feel yourself hoping they get back together even though they fight all the time. All in all, The Story of Us is a refreshing look at marriage from a Hollywood that usually wraps their characters into a happy little package that is usually hard to swallow.
