Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

kijii This movie combines two of my favorite subjects: classical piano concertos and competitions. Here, Paul Dietrich (Richard Dreyfuss) must decide whether to get a real job or continue his attempt—at his parents' expense—to become a great concert pianist. Though things don't look too promising at his age, he decides to take one LAST attempt at his long-planned career as a concert pianist before "throwing in the towel." This chance arises with an announced competition in San Francisco. When he arrives, another pianist, Hiedie Joan Schoonover (Amy Irvin), recognizes him from a previous competition at Tanglewood even though he pretends not to recognize her at first. Paul vows NOT to become romantically involved with her since he knows that personal involvement and competition do not mix!!! However, an unforeseen delay in the finals, coupled with devastating news from home, draws Paul to Heidi in spite of his vow. Another element to the story is that Heidi's teacher, Greta Vandermann (Lee Remick), wants to continue a teacher-pupil linage which stems clear back to Beethoven. So, this competition is also Greta's chance to continue this linage. The movie is also enhanced by Sam Wanamaker, who makes a great temperamental conductor. For the record, in the portrayed competition: Paul performs Beethoven's Emperor Concerto and Heidi performs Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto.

fedor8 Amy Irving and Richard Dreyfuss do the age-old movie-cliché (s)he-loves-me (s)he-loves-me-not shtick, and this schizophrenic will-I-or-won't-I tug-of-war relationship-claptrap stuff predictably goes on for the entire two hours duration. Just as you think that they'd finally decided whether they'd be together (forever and ever) or not, some MONUMENTAL event such as "she plays the piano better than me" once again occurs, standing in the way of yet another perfect Hollywood forever-and-ever marriage ending.Actually, not that perfect. The two weren't much of a match. I have no idea why they used to cast Dreyfuss, of all people, in romantic comedies and dramas of that period. In "The Goodbye Girl" (1977) he was cast opposite Marsha Mason who, though not a ravishing beauty, was far too attractive for the little speed-talking energizer bunny. Ditto Amy Irving. Even sillier, it is SHE who is desperately clinging on to the relationship, whereas he is being wishy-washy about it, dumping her every five minutes for reasons that border on the utterly ridiculous (i.e. forced, unconvincing plot-devices were being used to keep the romance on shaky ground). I very much doubt that the real Dreyfuss ever dumped a good-looking girlfriend - ever. This didn't exactly serve to make the sentimental goings-on any more realistic...Watching Dreyfuss mouth "I love you" was a definite low point. Another cringe-worthy moment came in the aftermath of Amy's victory when she turned to Dreyfuss and gave him a far-too emotional speech - uttered at something closely approaching the speed of light. Even Dreyfuss was shamed: not by the fact that she plays the piano better then him, but the fact that she can also talk quicker! A weird directorial touch was Lee Remick being shown jumping from joy - in slow motion! What was that about?...But to be fair, TC is not a bad movie. The main reason for this is that weepy handkerchief-type Hallmark-production bored-housewife sentimentality was largely avoided. This is by no means a re-run of "The Love Story". Other positive aspects are the occasionally good score (a nice twist having the dull Mozart replaced by the far superior Prokofiev), the attractive female cast, and a closer (if not exactly very close) look at the world of classical music and all the exaggerated pomp that goes along with it.Seriously now, Dreyfuss had only himself to blame for not winning the competition. If he had only tried a classical version of Slayer's "Reign In Blood"... Tis Slayer's 3rd Symphony.I am still hopeful that Amy Irving will get a statue built in her honour for taking Spielberg apart financially in that legendary divorce settlement.

moonspinner55 Richard Dreyfuss plays an egocentric jerk to perfection. His agitated mannerisms and witty retorts were becoming something of a pain around the time of this film's release (critics said he was phoning it in); however, looked at these many years later, one can see Dreyfuss' apparent dedication to bringing out the humanity in a puffed-up non-celebrity like his Paul Dietrich, and (despite a make-over on Dreyfuss that gives him a disconcertingly wizened appearance) he's the best thing in the movie. Plot about a piano competition has too many muddled sub-plots among its participants, though virginal Amy Irving's first affair with Dreyfuss is played out quite honestly. The piano mimicry is fabulous, giving the finale a real kick, but most of the supporting characters just get in the way. The overall feel of the picture is maudlin and stuffy, and the film's gray, chilly look is a visual downer. ** from ****

DrPhilmreview I think this movie is where the long downhill slide for Richard Dreyfuss first began. Before this, it seems like everything he touched turned to gold--"Jaws", "Close Encounters", "The Goodbye Girl", "Duddy Kravitz but that stopped with this film. "The Competition" is slow, pretentious, and boring.Even Amy Irving is forgettable in this one. Director Joel Oliansky never got to direct another feature after this snooze-fest.It's like the film wants to be a "Paper Chase" for music, but it fails on just about every level imaginable. Dreyfuss would to be sure, still put in a good performance now and again, but after this movie his star never shined as bright and his movies were all on a downhill slide.Too bad, because once he was a hell of an actor.