neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Frankie And Johnny Are Married
	Michael Pressman Michael Pressman, Lisa Chess, Alan Rosenberg, Jillian Armenante, Stephen Tobolowsky 2004		Here's a one that deserves a bemused smile: "Frankie and Johnny Are Married" is a vanity project about a vanity project. If the film is to be believed, TV director and producer Michael Pressman and his wife, actress Lisa Chess, mounted an L.A. production of the play "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune" as a remedy for their marital problems. Pressman would direct and Lisa would star. But the project was much more problematic than they expected. Slightly fictionalizing the experience, Pressman, who worked behind the camera on the primetime series "Chicago Hope," wrote, directed and co-starred in "Frankie and Johnny Are Married," which also features Chess and a few of the couple's show-biz friends, mostly playing versions of themselves. Thus, actor Alan Rosenberg over-emotes as the testosterone-heavy male lead opposite Chess in the play; writer/producer David E. Kelley, actors Kathy Baker, Mandy Patinkin and Hector Elizondo and CBS-TV president Les Moonves make appearances; and Stephen Tobolowsky plays Pressman's cynical pal Murray. The film has its humorous moments, although Pressman and Chess take themselves and their relationship so very seriously. Ultimately, they're sympathetic enough in their struggle through professional and personal trauma to earn respect and affection for their efforts.