Mirror Has Two Faces, The MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +3 1/2 Content: -1 1/2

This crowd-pleasing romantic comedy directed by and starring Barbra Streisand will have the same appeal as 1995's THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT. THE MIRROR is about two college professors who marry with the understanding there will be no sex between them. Good-looking Gregory Larkin (Jeff Bridges) attracts beautiful young women, but his fascination with mathematics becomes a real turn-off early in his romantic interludes. Plain Rose Morgan (Streisand) teaches literature and is as witty and creative in her lectures as Gregory is boring and methodical in his. Rose's sister (Mimi Rogers) and mother (Lauren Bacall) are both beautiful, shallow women who make Rose feel terribly undesirable. When Gregory seeks out an intelligent woman who also wants a sexless relationship, Rose seems the perfect match. It's both hilarious and touching as their feelings for each other deepen, yet they never show affection not even with an occasional hug after they marry. The Mirror Has Two Faces reflects a new image of love in the nineties and is great fun.

Gregory treats marriage like a mathematical formula, assuming that if he has sex with his wife, their much deeper feelings for each other will be trivialized. Romantic Rose assumes that he married her because she was so unattractive that he would never want to consummate the marriage. After a complete makeover, a now beautiful Rose has a brief affair with her sister's third husband. There is no on-screen sex, although it is implied as her scene with this man fades out. Gregory calls up a phone sex service, pouring out his dilemma and it turns out his “partner” is really a man disguising his voice to sound like a woman. Some of Gregory's students openly flirt with him, and once we see him and an ex-girl friend getting out of bed. Rose lectures her students in terms they can relate to, but oversteps good judgment when she uses the “f” word once, drawing great laughs from the audience. Four s-words are also heard, plus a few regular profanities. THE MIRROR contrasts today's obsession with meaningless, casual sex with the intimate expression of love within a marriage. However, its sexually suggestive content and objectionable language give it a slightly negative rating.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Tri-Star Pictures, 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232