Bye-Bye Love MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +3 Content: -1

Donny (Paul Reiser), Vic (Randy Quaid) and Dave (Matthew Modine) are three friends who are also divorced with children. Like the movie PARENTHOOD in reverse, this one chronicles the lives of the fathers as they take their kids for the typical week-end custody visit. Needless to say, this involves all the usual kid problems magnified and stuffed into 48 hours. Comic relief is provided not only by the fathers' attempts to deal with their kids, but also by the radio talk host David Townsend (Rob Reiner). He dispenses his wisdom on the pitfalls of marriage and divorce throughout the movie. BYE-BYE LOVE plays like a long "Mad About You" TV episode, in which Reiser stars. If you like that show, you'll probably like the movie. It's funny, a little sad and takes a very warm look at the state of the divorced family in America. Quaid and Reiser stand out as the major comic forces in this well-done Yuppie-style comedy.

Like it or not, the movie may be right when it says that the new family tradition in America is the week-end change of custody. BYE-BYE LOVE portrays divorce as an inevitable part of adult life and so almost preaches acceptance instead of avoidance. One of the fathers even admits that his divorce was good because now when the kids come over, he doesn't take them for granted. This seems fairly far afield from more traditional views of divorce, which sees marriage breakup as an unfortunate occurrence. On the other hand, the movie does show the lingering pain that both parents and children feel in the wake of a divorce. Also, it preaches the positive message that all of us, as a society, should help in raising all children when we have the chance. So why, in such a thoughtful movie, did they add two scenes of heavy kissing along with some obscenities and several regular profanities? Perhaps they felt a PG-13 rating would make more money. Unfortunately, they may be right, although in earning that rating they have also garnered a bye-bye rating from us for its foul language and sexually suggestive action.

Preview Reviewer: Greg Wilson
Distributor: 20th Century Fox Film Corp., 10201 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036