Comedian and actor Paul Reiser squeezed out this trifle in between episodes of his popular network sitcom "Mad About You."
The veteran stand-up comic is typically cast as struggling playwright Charlie Fischer, earning money by acting in commercials. Being Paul Reiser, he goes into Open Mike Night monologues in the course of casual conversation, and one such rant on the set inspires hard-driving ad exec Nicole Barnes
(Jessica Tuck) to completely redo the commercial campaign, declaring that Charlie's a sales mastermind. Smitten with the striking but seemingly unapproachable businesswoman, Charlie uses every possible excuse to be with her. His overtures are tacitly approved by Nicole's domineering father (Martin
Mull), who wants to drive away her fiance, insufferably nice New Age entrepreneur Roger (Doug Davidson). Some byzantine and rather confused maneuvering by Mr. Barnes leaves poor, guileless Roger lost somewhere off the coast of Borneo, while Charlie wins Nicole's heart at last by revising his
long-planned, serious-minded autobiographical play into a goofy onstage love note.
MR. WRITE threatens to flog some of its jokes to death (like the "Charlie, you're a genius!"/"I am? What did I say?" routine) but generally moves on to something else quickly enough to save the plot from terminal torpor. Reiser is appealing, though newcomer Jessica Tuck (a daytime TV soap opera
veteran) must fight an uphill battle; Nicole starts out as a starchy office Amazon, and it's hard to imagine her harboring romantic feelings for anyone. But the character softens as time passes, and she even has a memorable WHEN HARRY MET SALLY pseudo-orgasm. On the whole, the feature is
easily-digested but forgettable fluff, expanded by screenwriter Howard J. Morris from his own stage production. (Profanity, substance abuse, sexual situations.) leave a comment
