Just Between Friends (1986)

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Mary Tyler Moore (Ordinary People) and Christine Lahti (Running on Empty) star as newfound friends who discover a terrible coincidence — that the man Lahti is having an affair with is none other than Moore’s husband (Cheers‘s Ted Danson). Lahti is the first to realize the problem and tries to break it off with Danson. But fate intervenes, and the secret eventually comes out. Will Moore and Lahti’s friendship be able to endure these trials and tribulations? More importantly, will you care? Lahti does her best to sell this role, and Moore has her moments, but the material is beneath them. You never believe these two characters would really become friends. Certainly not enough to withstand the contrived melodrama writer/director Allan Burns has in store for them. (Hint: There’s death and pregnancy.) Just Between Friends is simply too overwrought to take at all seriously. What little comedy there is feels forced, the dialogue is banal, and then there’s the cringe-worthy scenes at aerobics class. With Sam Waterston, in perhaps the most thankless role of all.