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Told
in an engaging collage of direct camera confessionals, flashbacks, roundtable
discussions, and montages, Rob Reiner's THE STORY OF US, a sweet romantic
comedy featuring solid performances by Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer,
examines the difficulty of preserving marriage in America and the dual lives
married couples often must endure. The "us" are Ben and Katie
Jordan (Willis and Pfeiffer), a professional, and by all appearances happily
married, suburban couple with two well-adjusted children, Erin and Josh; the
"story," however, is that their marriage is actually crumbling at
an alarming rate, a truth they endeavor to hide from their loving kids.
Luckily, they can postpone the admission of dissolution because of the
children's departure to summer camp, with the possibility that things will
work out in the ensuing months. However, as time passes, tempers flare, Ben
moves out, Katie meets a charming divorcé at a cooking class, and, as the
inevitable return of Erin and Josh closes to a week, there is no apparent
hope of resolution. Will the two be forced to present their kids with an
awful fact of life, or can they rediscover their passion for each other and
renew their love?
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