John Candy Month: Only the Lonely (1991)

          Only the Lonely is not a great movie. In fact I’d say it’s only barely good. But there is a charm to it and some very good performances. The fairly basic to the point of clichéd story feels very much like an old romance from the 1940s or 50s, which makes sense considering it’s based in part on Marty, the 1955 Paddy Chayefsky penned film starring Ernest Borgnine (for which he won an Oscar). But what makes this movie interesting in regards to John Candy month is its an instance of Candy playing not only a dramatic role, but a romantic leading man. And in that regard, it surprisingly works alright.
          The story revolves around Danny Muldoon, a Chicago cop in his late thirties who lives with his overbearing Irish mother Rose. He soon meets and begins dating a funeral home worker called Theresa, but before he can move forward with the relationship he has to get passed his attachment to his mum and live his own life. For her part, Rose doesn’t like Theresa, her Sicilian heritage, and the threat she poses to having Danny as her security.
          So yeah this is a movie about a relationship between a grown son and his mother, which just saying brings ideas to mind of Psycho or on a funnier note Seymour and Agnes Skinner of The Simpsons. But Only the Lonely plays it with earnestness, something it can sometimes pull off, but sometimes not. The opening scene for example really has an honesty to it and any time Rose is on screen their relationship doesn’t come off as odd. But in Danny’s over-protectiveness of her it does. The film is directed by Chris Columbus and you can see that in some of the drama and its whimsical nature. But Columbus is hit or miss when it comes to comedy. At various points, Danny has a daydream of something terrible happening to his mother and it plays out like one of Ralphie’s escapes in A Christmas Story. However Ralphie was a nine year old boy. Danny’s not and so it often comes off as paranoia. I feel like these and a few other moments were inserted into the movie because John Candy was the star and so it needed some kind of comedy. But as this film proves very well, Candy is more than capable of playing dramatic parts.
          Prior to this movie John Candy had been appearing in a bunch of really bad comedies from The Great Outdoors to Nothing But Trouble (obviously I blame Dan Aykroyd) and so this role was meant to challenge him and prove his versatility as an actor as well as comedian. Danny is a serious character questioning his future, his relationships, and his responsibility and if he was played by someone who could only spout gags, the film would be an utter failure. Candy though can not only play the drama adequately but he makes for a decent romantic lead. Despite the fact that he’s clearly at least a decade older than Ally Sheedy he never comes off as creepy or disingenuous. And though the writing’s not very good in a lot of places he delivers it well. I mean how dumb is that recurring “sometimes its good to be a cop” line? But his chemistry with Theresa is believable. Are moments like Danny trying to hide her in his home while his mother’s around goofy? Yeah. So are the clichéd developments like how fast the relationship moves and the unexpected break-up. But somehow I was invested. There’s something really nice in seeing these two mostly introverted people become a couple. They’re both losers in life and so their shared happiness is very sympathetic. Though yeah, a few lines like the typical “it’s not you it’s me” are cringe-worthy; again, not the best writing on Columbus’ part. Ally Sheedy for as downhill as her career was going in these years following The Breakfast Club turns out a pretty good performance here. At the very least she conveys the importance of Danny to Theresa and I did surprisingly find myself rooting for them.
          One of this films’ best qualities and a major selling point was Maureen O’Hara as Rose. O’Hara was a pretty big star in the 40’s and 50s’s (I’ll always remember her as the mother in Miracle on 34th Street), and this was her first film role in twenty years, and her last. But apparently she liked the script enough to come out of retirement. And really, this movie does her a whole lot of justice as she steals every scene she’s in and is definitely enjoying herself. Her character has a power about her, but she’s also a very identifiable upset mother. And very very Irish. In fact she reminds me of a lot of old ladies in Newfoundland (who are basically Irish), and though her behaviour’s a little abrasive and not politically correct she does feel real for anyone who’s known these kind of women. Her relationship with Danny is the other big tenet of the movie and O’Hara and Candy are great together. Both are really invested and work off each other very well. Even if it is pushed a little too far you do to some degree understand Danny’s dedication to Rose. He has after all been someone she’s depended on for a long time and feels responsible for her. Does that make it okay that he interrupts dates to check in on her? No. And again, the way the movie occasionally plays up the comedy in this doesn’t work a lot of the time because of how the story’s being told seriously, and they can’t go as far with the mother-son relationship jokes as something like the Skinners. The film is self-aware though, which does help to sell its faithfulness to realism.
          Anthony Quinn is also in this movie! That’s cool. Though he doesn’t appear much, he makes the most of his screen-time as a Greek man constantly flirting with Rose, which is actually kind of cute, especially when she warms to his silliness. Kevin Dunn plays Danny’s brother, who’s most notable appearance is a brief and pretty awkward argument that ends in a punch out and apology. Milo O’Shea is very cheery as Doyle, ringleader of a band of Irish locals who Danny and Rose spend time with. The loose thread in terms of acting in this movie is expectedly Jim Belushi who’s been funny sometimes, but not in one dimensional roles like this. I’m not interested in seeing the married life snippets from his stand-up act, and I especially don’t want to hear him going on about buying a dildo for his wife. In a movie with a very humble tone and general innocence, he’s actually pretty unlikeable. How this guy is Danny’s best friend I have no idea!
          So Only the Lonely wasn’t Columbus’ best follow-up to Home Alone, but it’s not without merit. Sure, it’s very by-the-numbers, it’s in no-way ground-breaking and has some aspects of its story and writing working against it. But it does manage to be both a nice drama about family as well as an almost heartwarming romance. Even the comedy’s not as bad as I implied, and as corny and tonally inconsistent as some of the daydreams were, O’Hara acted them well. I doubt she ever thought she’d get to punch a terrorist in her career, but boy is she glad she did! It’s definitely a gem of a John Candy performance and worth seeing for that as well as some other good performances, particularly from Maureen O’Hara. If you’re looking for something incredibly effective and smart, or really ingeniously funny, this movie doesn’t come close in either regard. But for what it is, it’s an okay little film. And sometimes that can be enough.