Starring: John Candy, Maureen O'Hara, Ally Sheedy, Jim Belushi, Milo O'Shea, Anthony Quinn, Kevin Dunn
Chicago cop Danny Muldoon (Candy) lives with his outspoken, domineering mother Rose (O'Hara) and has settled into an inevitable routine and appears to be doomed to live with her the rest of his days. One day, he and his partner Sal (Belushi) transport a dead body to a funeral home in which the reclusive, pale Theresa (Sheedy) provides makeup on the deceased. Danny attempts awkward small talk to the silent, uncomfortable Theresa and asks her on a date. She agrees and the first date includes dinner on the field at old Comiskey Park and Danny trying in vain to keep conversation going. But, they continue to see each other. As the relationship progresses, Rose grows more concerned because of the likelihood Danny may leave the nest and leave her with no one to harass. Plus, Theresa is Sicilian, leading to Rose spouting ignorant, prejudicial remarks about different ethnicities under the guise of "telling it like it is."
As much as Only the Lonely tries, Rose never softens to the point where we can tolerate her. This isn't O'Hara's fault. She approaches the role with gusto, but the character is too burdened with old-school ignorance and nastiness to allow us to sympathize with her. When Danny tells her he loves her, we can't quite believe it, especially when Theresa stays over and he has to sneak her out of the house. We hope the charmer next door (Quinn) can work some romantic magic on Rose, but that's a fool's errand. Even someone with Quinn's natural vivacity can't penetrate the hard-as-stone Rose.
Candy is always lovable, even while playing a sad sack like Danny. We hope he finds love, but with Rose working on him and Theresa sometimes unfairly pulling him in another direction, we would rather he move to New York and find another option. Only the Lonely is a romantic comedy at its core, but there are too many hurts and wounds in it to shoehorn in a happy ending and have it be successful.
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