Same Time, Next Year Holds its Own Through the Decades

In Same Time, Next Year the premise is simple. Written originally as a stage play and adapted here for the big screen by Bernard Slade, George (Alan Alda) and Doris (Ellen Burstyn) are strangers who meet at a bed and breakfast and share dinner. They consequently share a bed that night and breakfast, of sorts, the next morning. The film traces their tenuous yet somehow binding relationship as they meet one weekend a year for the next 26 years. Alda is completely believable as the logical, glib CPA ("I don't even know if you read 'Catcher in The Rye'") who falls head over heels for Doris, the rather naive earthmother. Both evolve over the years while still sharing a common bond of friendship as well as a unique love. Through the characterizations of Doris and George director Robert Milligan deftly weaves a story that is not only a romance but a reflection of the era it portrays. Slightly outdated by Marvin Hamlische's musical score and the then practice of using a running theme song throughout the film (ala "Arthur" and "I Walk the Line"), Same Time, Next Year is still well worth the popcorn.