Night We Never Met, The MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +3 Content: -2 1/2

Brian (Kevin Anderson), a crass yuppie New York stock broker, is getting married. In order to preserve his night-out-with-the-guys habit, Brian sublets his apartment in periods of two nights each. His ad in the paper attracts two lessees. Sam (Matthew Broderick), a clerk in a New York gourmet foods market, is unhappy because his relationship with performance artist Pastel (Jeanne Tripplehorn) is going nowhere. The cramped apartment he shares with many others is overwhelming him. Ellen (Annabella Sciorra) is a dental technician and the unhappy wife of a Queens dry cleaning mogul. She rents the apartment for a quiet place to paint. Sam begins to leave notes for Ellen, signing them "Roomie." Although they never meet, the two begin to fall in love by correspondence. Thinking that her "Roomie" is Brian, Ellen plans a romantic affair with Brian and gives herself to him. On the same night that Sam breaks up with Pastel, Ellen leaves her husband for good. They end up at the apartment together, and meet for the first time. THE NIGHT WE NEVER MET is an entertaining blend of humor and pathos, with a strong script and cast. Especially funny is a cameo by TV comedian Garry Shandling.

Also making appearances are objectionable language, nudity, sexual situations. We see two glimpses of male and female full rear nudity. Sexual intercourse is implied between Ellen and Brian on a couch with no nudity, and a dream sequence depicts sado-masochistic sexual activity. When Sam has convinced a woman to have sex with him, he turns his head heaven-ward and proclaims "Thank you, God." Also disturbing is Ellen's story. Her domineering husband buys a house in the suburbs without even telling her, and talks of having many children. Rather than tackle the problem, Ellen decides her only way out is to have an affair. She is shown suffering the short-term consequences of losing her husband, but of course lives happliy ever after with Sam. Her marital problems don't come close to meeting God's criteria for divorce. This theme, along with obscenities, sexual content and nudity, make the film a disappointment.

Preview Reviewer: Pete Zimowski
Distributor: Miramax Films, 18 E. 48th St., Ste. 1601, NY, NY 10017