AllMovie

Scripted by James L. Brooks, after a sparkling career in 1970s TV with The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, Alan J. Pakula's Starting Over (1979) took on contemporary issues of divorce and courtship through the tribulations of a freshly divorced man looking for love with a wary single woman. Starting Over's ruefully comic realization that the rising divorce rate did not mean fun and games for all the new bachelors was also proof that top '70s star Burt Reynolds could be more than just a good ol' boy. Moving from Candice Bergen's Me Decade narcissist to Jill Clayburgh's relationship-scarred teacher, the mustache-less Reynolds is a humorously low-key mess of male anxiety and indecision who maintains his charm despite his floundering. While the three leads were all praised for their work, only Clayburgh and Bergen received an Oscar nomination. Starting Over's down-to-earth view of single life and its discontents reassured unattached thirtysomethings that romance was still possible in the post-sexual-revolution age of divorce and dating, and it was a moderate hit for former paranoia maestro Pakula.