Meandering
Ira Moran (James Garner - Decoration Day) and his wife, Maggie (Joanne Woodward - Mr. & Mrs. Bridge), find themselves heading to the funeral of an old friend after his wife called them with a favour to ask. Whilst on their journey there and back they have various mishaps and incidents. But it leads to them having to spend time together talking about their marriage, their children and reminiscing back to how they fell in love.
Oh I had such high hopes as I read how much people loved this made for TV movie and I can't think off a single James Garner movie which I have disliked. Unfortunately whilst there isn't anything which you could say was wrong with "Breathing Lessons" it just didn't captivate me in the same way it has others. And the simple reasons is that in trying to be amusing it goes for the quirky from people at the funeral singing show tunes to a mishap on a water bed and whilst on paper the gags are amusing in reality they are forced. The thing is that when the story in "Breathing Lessons" focuses on Ira and Maggie reminiscing and acting like they love each other it is beautiful. But these moments are out weighed by all the quirky and for me the quirky spoils the nostalgia of the movie.
What this all boils down to is that "Breathing Lessons" just wasn't my sort of thing, well parts of it entertained when it focused on Ira and Maggie but all the other characters and the humour makes it all a bit quirky and too focused on the quirkiness rather than the charm.
