''It Takes Two'' is a 1988 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

David Beaird David Hardin Beaird (August 19, 1952 – February 6, 2019) was an American film and stage director, screenwriter, and playwright. He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. Career In 1973, he was recipient of the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actor ...

and starring

George Newbern George Young Newbern (born December 30, 1964) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Charlie in the ABC show ''Scandal'' and Bryan MacKenzie in ''Father of the Bride'' (1991) and its sequels ''Father of the Bride Part II'' and '' Fath ...

Leslie Hope Leslie Ann Hope is a Canadian actress and director, best known for her role as Teri Bauer on the Fox television series '' 24'' and prosecutor Anita Gibbs on ''Suits''. Personal life Hope was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Ann and Frank Hop ...

, and Kimberly Foster. Screenwriters

Richard Christian Matheson Richard Christian Matheson (born October 14, 1953) is an American writer of horror fiction and screenplays, the son of fiction writer and screenwriter Richard Matheson. He is the author of over 100 short stories of psychological horror and ma ...

and Thomas E. Szollosi had previously teamed up to write the 1987 teen comedy ''

Three O'Clock High ''Three O'Clock High'' is a 1987 American teen comedy film directed by Phil Joanou. The script, about a meek high schooler who is forced into a fight with a volatile new transfer student, is based on the high school experiences of screenwriters R ...

''.

Premise

Travis Rogers, on the verge of marriage to Stephi, takes off for

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, where an encounter with a car saleswoman named Jonni Tigersmith precipitates a series of comic misadventures.

Cast

as Travis Rogers *

as Stephanie Lawrence * Kimberly Foster as Jonni Tigersmith *

Barry Corbin Leonard Barrie Corbin (born October 16, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Maurice Minnifield on the television series ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), which earned him two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award ...

as George Lawrence *

Anthony Geary Anthony Geary (born May 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for playing the role of Luke Spencer on the ABC daytime drama ''General Hospital''. He originated the role of Luke in 1978 and received a record eight Daytime Emmy Awards for O ...

as Wheel *

Frances Lee McCain Frances Lee McCain (born July 28, 1943) is an American actress. Early life and education McCain was born in York, Pennsylvania and grew up in New York, Illinois and Colorado in addition to California. She graduated from Ripon College with a ...

as Joyce Rogers *

Patrika Darbo Patrika Darbo (born April 6, 1948) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Nancy Wesley and Shirley Spectra in the television soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' and ''The Bold and the Beautiful'', respectively. In 2016, Darbo won a ...

as Dee Dee *

Marco Perella Marco Perella (born May 18, 1949)Texas Birth Index, Harris County, May 18, 1949. is an American character actor and author, who has played a variety of small roles in motion pictures shot in Texas. He is best known for his role in '' Boyhood'' (2 ...

as Dave *

Bill Bolender Bill Bolender is an American character actor and artist, mainly known for small appearances in ''RoboCop 2'', '' JFK'', ''Reality Bites'', ''The Shawshank Redemption'', ''Nixon'' and ''Dante's Peak''. His guest starring appearances include roles ...

as Judd Rogers *

Mickey Jones Mickey Jones (June 10, 1941 – February 7, 2018) was an American musician and actor. He played drums with acts such as Trini Lopez and Bob Dylan, with whom he played on his 1966 world tour. He became a founding member of The First Edition ...

as Bucholtz

Reception

Writing in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', Michael Wilmington described ''It Takes Two'' as "a modestly budgeted comedy with...a frowzy plot" that nevertheless "has relentless pace and snap, real comic vigor." The ''

Time Out Film Guide Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to c ...

'' calls the film "One of the better movies of hit-and-miss director Beaird".

References

External links

* * * 1988 films 1988 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films Films directed by David Beaird Films scored by Carter Burwell Films set in Dallas Films with screenplays by Richard Christian Matheson United Artists films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films {{1980s-romantic-comedy-film-stub