Commuter Nerds

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

FALLING IN LOVE

Directed by Ulu Grosbard

Screenplay by Michael Cristofer

Moral criticism of adultery having become unfashionable, we must make do with the inconvenience of the thing as the last barrier against total sexual anarchy. If the experience of Frank Raftis (Robert De Niro) and Molly Gilmore (Meryl Streep) is typical, the difficulty of arranging a discreet tryst remains a powerful weapon on the side of the angels. Indeed, Falling in Love shows an extramarital affair to be the neutron bomb of interpersonal relations, capable of wiping out all intelligent life, leaving only the bare generic conventions of romantic fiction standing stark against the sky.

The pair seem to spend most of the picture either searching for each other through crowded trains (they ride the same commuter line into New York City) or waiting around the station or on street corners. The suspense, for the viewer, is not exactly killing. Neither is the wit of the dialogue that Writer Michael Cristofer has concocted for the lovers on the rare occasions when they meet. It generally consists of inarticulate expressions of desire and feeble excuses for not consummating it. In this they may be wise, since neither of their spouses is presented as anything but good-natured and rather more patient with Frank and Molly's preoccupations than any audience is likely to be.

De Niro's performance consists mostly of doleful looks, Streep's of brushing back her hair and giving two vigorous nods whenever she tells a lie, and that says it all about Ulu Grosbard's lugubrious direction. The name of the picture being knocked off here is Brief Encounter, not Closely Watched Trains, but of course, what we are dealing with here is not moviemaking but star packaging. Next time they should remember the gift wrap.

--By Richard Schickel