Latest news with #Alda
Mint
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
‘The Four Seasons' review: Scenes from all marriages
Donald Sutherland was a fantastic 'Hawkeye" Pierce. Robert Altman's Palme D'Or winning M*A*S*H* film—an adaptation of Richard Hooker's savage novel—cast Sutherland as a smirking surgeon, detached and too hip for the wartime hell around him. Alan Alda, inheriting the part in the M*A*S*H* series, one of the greatest American shows of all time, added a splash of melancholy to his martini. His 'Hawkeye" talked more, joked more and, crucially, felt more. Both top-shelf performances, but where Sutherland served up a dirty martini, Alda poured one that was dryer and infinitely more unforgettable. It therefore feels appropriate to see Alda back with the Netflix series The Four Seasons. Written and directed by Alda, the 1981 film of the same name has been adapted into a new series by Tina Fey, Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield, and it really works. Alda's film, sharply written and observed, is about a close-knit group of middle-aged friends regularly meet up for vacations together—and take turns unravelling. This episodic storytelling device naturally lends itself to the series format, where each seasonal getaway—Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter—gets two episodes apiece. The series arrives features a mature cast who know exactly how to underplay the grand and overplay the trivial: which, when it comes to long marriages and longer friendships, is really the point. It's a sly, simmering show about grown-ups who spend an inordinate amount of time with each other, despite—or because—they often cannot stand one another. It's about the cold fronts in marriages, the blossoms of unexpected tenderness, the sudden summer squalls that arrive when someone dares to say what they actually feel. Steve Carell, playing Nick, a man about to leave his wife, is superb. Nick isn't angry or grieving or desperate. It's worse than that: He's fine. 'We're like coworkers at a nuclear facility. We sit in the same room all night monitoring different screens," he says, describing his marriage and landing a line that is tragic, mordantly funny, and dangerously true for many watching. That's the kind of dialogue this show does so well—sentences that glance off the comedic and stick in your ribs later. Colman Domingo's Danny is all eye-rolls and snark, a larger-than-life man who wants to be the centre of every moment. He's married to Marco Calvani's Claude, a gloriously high-strung Italian with a theatre-kid's lungs and a philosopher's grievances. When Claude is told to lower his voice during a confrontation, he responds with an operatic 'I'm Italian!". This is a moment so deliciously theatrical it feels written in all caps. (And, as it turns out, it was written decades ago: the line is taken directly from the 1981 film, where the response was a weary 'Everybody in Connecticut knows you're Italian.") This new Four Seasons steals from the past with intention, not imitation. It nods to the Alan Alda original like a grown child reclaiming a family recipe and adding spice. Tina Fey's Kate, acerbic as can be, refers to someone as 'such a Zelig." It's a reference to her favourite Woody Allen film, a reference lost on many, but she's fine being her own audience. She plays a woman too sharp to soften, too tired to explain herself, and too loyal to leave the people who exhaust her. (Alda himself shows up, old but still twinkly-eyed, telling the couples 'not to fuss about the small stuff." 'I love you," Tina says.) Kerri Kenney-Silver is lovely as Anne, the outsider-insider. She married into this friend group years ago, and still seems faintly surprised every time she's invited back. There's a generosity to her awkwardness, a woman who doesn't quite fit but really really wants to, and that yearning gives her scenes a quiet poignancy that sneaks up on you. What the show captures best is how much long-term intimacy is made up of nonsense: repeated anecdotes, shared allergies, longstanding dinner orders. As Jack once said of Danny in the 1981 film: 'He's hypochondriacal, stingy, bossy, selfish, compulsive, and paranoid. He's the Muhammad Ali of mental illness." Or Nick's perfect marital lament: 'For a year and a half, all we talked about was zucchini. Then, for another year, it was green peppers. That was a nice change." These lines could easily belong to this new show, and that's the point. In the 44 years between the movie and the show, it's astonishing how little has changed. People age, partnerships drift, tensions bubble under the surface of Instagram-friendly getaways. The clothes are better, the therapy is more expensive, but the core remains unchanged. We marry people we want to like, we befriend people we can't always stand, and we grow old hoping someone will know how we take our coffee (or martini) without asking. Buckle up. The seasons will keep marching on, and we will inevitably turn into our parents—or, at the very least, the characters our parents watched on TV. Our edges will dull, our affairs will seem commonplace, we will appear out of touch to those who are young and exciting. If we are fortunate, however, we will get by with a little help from our friends. Love them, do. Raja Sen is a screenwriter and critic. He has co-written Chup, a film about killing critics, and is now creating an absurd comedy series. He posts @rajasen. Also read: Neeraj Ghaywan on 'Homebound': 'If I don't tell my stories, who will?'
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alan Alda says his face blindness made him not recognize his daughter: 'I don't think she was too happy'
Good one, dad. Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Alan Alda is opening up about the time he didn't recognize his own daughter due to a condition he'd later come to find out was prosopagnosia, or face blindness. In all fairness, the incident occurred on the set of Alda's film The Four Seasons, after he had had his daughter, Beatrice, dye her hair a completely different color for her role in the comedy. "I saw this person with horn-rimmed glasses and blonde hair staring at me, and it was starting to get distracting," Alda recalled to PEOPLE. "I said to the assistant director, 'Don't let these strangers come on the set.' He said, 'That's your daughter!' I don't think she was too happy about that, because neither of us knew that there was such a thing as face blindness [at the time]." Alda said to this day it's "very hard" for him to recognize people due to the condition. "When somebody comes up to me, as if they know me, I often don't know if they know me from seeing me on the screen or if I actually know them," he told the outlet. "I could have dinner with somebody, spend two hours with somebody next to me, and the next day not know who they are." Alda, 89, has been open about his health struggles in recent years. In 2018, he revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015. At the time, he told CBS This Morning he decided to reveal his diagnosis after noticing his "thumb twitch" during some recent TV appearances to promote his podcast, Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda. "I thought, it's probably only a matter of time before somebody does a story about this from a sad point of view, but that's not where I am," he said. Speaking with PEOPLE more recently, Alda gave an update on his condition, telling the outlet, 'I don't have dexterity with my fingers the way I used to, so sometimes [my wife, Arlene] has to tear a package open for me,' he said. 'She's so good-natured about it. I'm always saying, 'Thank you.'" He also admitted that while managing his Parkinson's has gone from "a part-time job to almost a full-time job" over the past 10 years, he's still able to keep a positive outlook. "It keeps me always looking for the funny side," he said. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
New York Post
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Alan Alda reveals he didn't recognize his own daughter due to face blindness
Alan Alda is opening up about his struggles with face blindness. In a new interview with People, the 89-year-old year recalled the time he didn't recognize his own daughter, Beatrice, due to prosopagnosia. Alda said the incident occurred on the set of his 1981 comedy 'The Four Seasons' when he had Beatrice, now 63, dye her hair for her role in the film. Advertisement 8 Alan Alda at SiriusXM Studios in NYC in Nov. 2019. Getty Images 'I saw this person with horn-rimmed glasses and blonde hair staring at me, and it was starting to get distracting,' Alda explained. 'I said to the assistant director, 'Don't let these strangers come on the set.' He said, 'That's your daughter!'' 'I don't think she was too happy about that,' Alda added, 'because neither of us knew that there was such a thing as face blindness [at the time].' Advertisement 8 Alan Alda with his wife Arlene and daughters Elizabeth, Eve and Beatrice in 1979. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images 8 Alan Alda at the AARP The Magazine's 19th Annual Movies For Grownups Awards in 2020. Getty Images The 'M*A*S*H' actor, who is still dealing with the condition, said that nowadays it's 'very hard' for him to recognize people. 'When somebody comes up to me, as if they know me, I often don't know if they know me from seeing me on the screen or if I actually know them,' he shared. Advertisement 'I could have dinner with somebody, spend two hours with somebody next to me, and the next day not know who they are,' Alda said. 8 Alan Alda in 'M*A*S*H.' Getty Images 8 Alan Alda on the set of the 1979 movie 'The Seduction of Joe Tynan' in Baltimore. Getty Images Alda also spoke to the outlet about his Parkinson's disease, which he was diagnosed with in 2015. Advertisement The Emmy Award winner said that managing the neurological disorder has 'gone from a part-time job to almost a full-time job keeping track of all these little solutions.' 8 Alan Alda attends AARP The Magazine's 19th Annual Movies For Grownups Awards. FilmMagic 'But it keeps me always looking for the funny side,' he shared. Alda further explained how his longtime wife Arlene, 92, has supported him during his health struggles. 8 Arlene Alda and Alan Alda attend the 2024 Bay Street Theater's 32nd Annual Summer Gala in July 2024. Getty Images 'I don't have dexterity with my fingers the way I used to, so sometimes she has to tear a package open for me,' he said. 'She's so good-natured about it. I'm always saying, 'Thank you.'' Alda previously gave an update on his Parkinson's in a 2020 interview with 'AARP the Magazine.' 8 Arlene and Alan Alda at a a Jewish Home LifeCare dinner in NYC in 2015. Getty Images Advertisement 'A lot of people hear they have Parkinson's and get depressed and panicky and don't do anything, just hoping it'll go away. It's not going to, but you can hold off the worst symptoms. Movement helps: walking, biking, treadmills. But also specific things: I move to music a lot.' he said. 'It's not the end of the world when you get this diagnosis.' Other celebrities who have Parkinson's include Michael J. Fox, Ozzy Osbourne and Linda Ronstadt.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alan Alda Opens Up About Having Rare Condition That Once Caused Him to Not Recognize His Daughter (Exclusive)
Alan Alda has long had face blindness, or prosopagnosia, which makes it hard for him to recognize people Alda once mistook his daughter Beatrice for a stranger while they filmed his 1981 film The Four Seasons Alda was also diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015Alan Alda is recalling a time his face blindness, or prosopagnosia, once caused him to mistake his daughter Beatrice for a stranger. For her part in his 1981 film The Four Seasons — which Tina Fey recently adapted into a series for Netflix — the beloved actor, 89, had Beatrice sent out to get her hair dyed blonde so that she'd look like the two actors playing her parents. When she came back, he couldn't recognize her. "I saw this person with horn-rimmed glasses and blonde hair staring at me, and it was starting to get distracting," Alda tells PEOPLE. "I said to the assistant director, 'Don't let these strangers come on the set.' He said, 'That's your daughter!' I don't think she was too happy about that, because neither of us knew that there was such a thing as face blindness [at the time]." These days, Alda — who was also diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015 — says it's still "very hard" for him to recognize people. "When somebody comes up to me, as if they know me, I often don't know if they know me from seeing me on the screen or if I actually know them," he says. "I could have dinner with somebody, spend two hours with somebody next to me, and the next day not know who they are." Still, his ongoing health struggles haven't stopped him. In the new Netflix adaption of The Four Seasons, Alda makes a hilarious cameo in a scene with Fey and Colman Domingo, where his character offers them some marriage advice: 'Every once in a while ... [my wife would] say, 'Congratulations! Take off your pants, it's a sex day.' You might think of trying that with your spouse.' Like his character, Alda regularly calls upon advice from his own wife of 68 years, Arlene. 'She always says, 'The secret to marriage is a short memory,'" he says. 'We both try to practice being there when we're there: listening, answering, taking an interest. You can get used to somebody no matter who it is. I've always thought if the Pope and Mother Teresa were a couple, after a few years, they'd have to work it out." Through his journey with Parkinson's, which has caused body tremors visible in his Four Seasons cameo, Alda says Arlene, 92, has been present every step of the way. 'I don't have dexterity with my fingers the way I used to, so sometimes she has to tear a package open for me,' he says. 'She's so good-natured about it. I'm always saying, 'Thank you.'" While managing his Parkinson's has gone from "a part-time job to almost a full-time job" over the past decade, Alda says the positive is that "it keeps me always looking for the funny side." The Four Seasons is streaming now on Netflix. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Four Seasons' Brings Middle-Age Malaise on Vacation
In an episode of the new Netflix comedy The Four Seasons, Tina Fey's character, Kate, compares a situation to Zelig, an obscure Woody Allen film from 1983. Kate's husband Jack (Will Forte) sarcastically replies, 'Oh, that's a really fresh reference!' The Four Seasons is perhaps an even less fresh reference. The story of three couples — Jack and Kate, Nick (Steve Carell) and Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver), and Danny (Colman Domingo) and Claude (Marco Calvani) — who go on four memorable vacations together over the course of a year, it's a remake of a 1981 movie that was Alan Alda's film directorial debut. Alda's version was well-reviewed, and it grossed over $50 million (nearly $180 million in 2025 dollars), a testament to how beloved Alda was at the time as the leading man on the hit sitcom M*A*S*H. But it hasn't lingered in the collective memory the way some other films of its vintage have, in part because its target audience was moviegoers who were middle-aged, like its stars, back then. More from Rolling Stone Four Tech Billionaires Watch the World They Created Burn in New 'Mountainhead' Teaser Marriages and Friendships Are Put to the Test in Tina Fey's Cozy Netflix Series 'The Four Seasons' Tina Fey's 'The Four Seasons,' Based on the 1981 Movie, Sets Netflix Premiere Date It was also released at a time when there weren't constantly family-friendly movie options in theaters every weekends, so some parents who didn't want to hire a babysitter took their kids along to The Four Seasons. I saw it as a seven-year-old, but recall nothing other than the distinct feeling that it was a film in no way made for someone my age. Fey is a little older than me — she would have just turned 11 when it came out. And apparently either the film or her interactions with Alda when he guest-starred in several episodes of 30 Rock (playing Jack Donaghy's biological father) left enough of an impression that she, along with past and present collaborators Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield, decided to adapt The Four Seasons for television. Hey, at least it's a relatively unusual deviation(*) from the kinds of things that usually get remade in the IP Is Everything era of TV! (*) A few other Seventies and Eighties films for adults have gotten similar treatment in recent years, with Showtime at one point offering new versions of both American Gigolo and The Man Who Fell to Earth, both of which came and went without much notice. Since even the 1981 movie's most laudatory reviews suggested Alda had shot several episodes of television and strung them together, the switch in mediums is an easy fit. And the nature of the story lends itself to being told in this format, with two episodes apiece for each calendar season, and thus each trip the group takes together. But despite the pedigree of that cast and of Fey, Fisher (who also created Never Have I Ever), and Wigfield (who created Great News and Peacock's Saved by the Bell legasequel) as writers, The Four Seasons never quite makes a convincing argument for why its story needed to be revisited today. There are some amusing moments, and a few genuinely poignant ones, but on the whole it feels thin — less a TV show than an excuse for a bunch of talented people, several of them old friends IRL, to hang out together in a variety of pretty locales. It's like a Grown-Ups film, but without the fart jokes. Our story begins in spring, when the group traditionally assembles at Nick and Anne's beautiful lake house. The other duos have problems — Jack and Kate's marriage has become a bit too routine, while Claude feels Danny is being too cavalier about some age-appropriate health news — but the main source of tension comes from Nick's confession that he wants to divorce Anne. 'We're like co-workers at a nuclear facility!' he says of how lifeless their marriage feels. 'We sit in the same room all night monitoring different screens!' After a cameo by Alda himself — by far the funniest and most touching part of the whole affair, with Alda proving he's still got it, even at 89 and dealing with Parkinson's — we shift to summer, where the other couples are struggling to get used to Nick's much younger new girlfriend Ginny (Erika Henningsen) while on vacation at a comically crunchy eco-friendly resort she picked out for them. Then there's an autumn parents' weekend trip to college to visit the daughters of Jack, Kate, Nick, and Anne, before the season concludes with parallel winter lodge stays for the now-splintered group(*). (*) Given that most of these friendships go back decades, it's impressive that they've made it so long taking multiple trips together per year — as much for the logistics of it as for the fact that nobody got sick of each other until this point. There are some solid bits of physical comedy here and there, particularly in the summer episodes, and dramatic moments land from time to time. There's also a late plot development that turns the show into a weirdly specific piece of typecasting for one of its actors. Mostly, though, Fey and company seem content to coast on vibes and the chemistry among the cast. The results are pleasant, but rarely more than that. Nick's daughter Lila (Julia Lester) accuses him of having a 'pretty basic midlife crisis,' and the first half of that phrase applies to most of The Four Seasons. Everybody seemed to have a good time making it. Sometimes, that spirit becomes a bit infectious. But just as various characters keep questioning why the group chose to go on one trip or another, you will probably come to the end of the season wondering why this impressive group of people decided this was the project they wanted to join forces to remake. If it ends up being a hit, Alda directed three other films, including one, Sweet Liberty, set behind the scenes of a Hollywood production. That's a subject Fey might know a thing or two about turning into a TV show. All eight episodes of The Four Seasons are now streaming on Netflix. I've seen the whole season. 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