Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

mnpollio Either the producers behind Used People are incredible salespeople or there was once something in this screenplay which attracted the amazing cast that proliferates this film. Unfortunately, whatever charm may once have been inherent in the story fails to make its way to the screen in the end product.The story centers on a NYC Jewish matriarch Shirley MacLaine, who is taken aback following her husband's funeral when Italian charmer Marcello Mastroianni introduces himself as a friend of the deceased who has loved her from afar for years. Around this rather astounding declaration, MacLaine and Mastroianni's extended family spins in their own assorted subplots. MacLaine has two daughters - Kathy Bates and Marcia Gay Harden - with whom she has embattled relationships with. Her young grandson, convinced that the spirit of his grandfather is protecting him, runs about doing one dangerous stunt after another. Meanwhile, her mother Jessica Tandy and her best friend Sylvia Sidney kvetch from the sidelines. Everything gets tied up in a neat little bow in time for the U.S. moon landing.The film is obviously trying to be something in the same vein as Moonstruck, but its fails spectacularly and only increases appreciation of that earlier film. The bulk of the film's problems stem from the screenplay and the characters. Did there really have to be this many people? Bates is a great actress, but her character is too generic. By contrast, Harden is so off-the-wall that no scene with her can possibly be taken seriously. Harden spends the film donning one cinematic disguise after another - one moment she is Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate, in another scene she is Bonnie Parker from Bonnie and Clyde, etc. This is obviously a woman with something pathological wrong with her and the fact that almost no one in the film addresses it is disturbing.Tandy and Sidney are fun as the old-timers, but they are given limited screen time. And even with that it is hard to dismiss the notion that Tandy is miscast and Sidney should have been given her role instead.Most damning of all is that it is impossible to root for a romance between MacLaine and Mastroianni. I usually enjoy MacLaine, but she is playing a cast-iron shrew here. She comes off as an utterly joyless woman who gets her jollies by picking other people apart - especially those unwilling or unable to defend themselves. When the good-natured Bates finally summons the courage to escape her mother's home and malignant influence, she should be given a moment where she lays out how MacLaine has denigrated her. Instead, somehow MacLaine gets a foolish rant about how everything impacts her - revealing the utter selfishness in an unlikable character. We can see no reason why anyone with an iota of intelligence would fall for such a charmless person - and this ends up making the otherwise charming Mastroianni seem either delusional or insane. If we have nothing invested in the romantic central pairing, then the film can only be considered an abject failure.This is the kind of film where literally every character on screen is given a manufactured crisis that can then be solved magically by the climax. MacLaine will find love with Mastroianni, Tandy and Sidney will find satisfaction in their twilight years, Harden will learn to put away her childish game and become a mother to her needy son. It is the kind of film where Bates has barely left MacLaine's sphere of influence to launch a new life across the country, before she has returned a "success" - which means she shows up at a family function with a new hairstyle.A really brazen and shallow film that would work far better as a low-rent sitcom.

Stacy ,,,and a classic family.This is simply one of the best films ever. Its one of my most favorites and hopefully it will be released on DVD very soon.Shirley MacClaine is the queen bee and Marcello Mastriontanni is the bees knees! Fantastic performances all around and a rich story that will leave you remembering the film for years to come. The cultural aspect here is cheerful and insightful and the whole idea of living in NY in the 60s was a blast to me when I first saw this. ( I was 11- so I had an imagination- sue me!) Highly recommended! 10 stars.

aberlour36 After seeing this film, still not available on DVD, one wants to say, "How did this movie ever get made?" It is funny, intelligent, sensitive, and perceptive. No exploding cars. No teens making out. No monsters from outer space. Used People is just excellent and thoughtful entertainment of a sort that makes one want to cheer. The script is unusually good, and the acting is outstanding. The leads, Marcello Mastronini and Shirley McLaine, could not have been selected and directed with greater care. Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, and Marcia Gay Harden are terrific. The photography is outstanding, and the sets recreate the 1940s and late 1960s very believably. The contrast between Jewish and Italian families in New York is most amusing. Why were no academy awards lavished on this film? Perhaps because it is out of step with contemporary cultural norms and deals essentially with seniors, i.e. people who have lived through much and have a measure of wisdom. Don't miss it.

niel How bad could a movie be with such a cast? Well, used people is very bad! For one thing the charactors are all charicatures. Not that good actors can't play charactors that are not like themselves, they can. But such acting talent could not overcome stereotypes of New York Jews. Not only are their accents terrible but the dialog is awful too.