Parallel Lives (film)
Parallel Lives is a 1994 American made-for-television mystery-drama film written, directed and produced by Linda Yellen which returns some actors and similar patterns of Yellen's previous work, "Chantilly Lace". The film features an all-star cast: James Belushi, LeVar Burton, Lindsay Crouse, James Brolin, Jack Klugman, Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore (in one of his final film roles), Ally Sheedy, Robert Wagner, Patricia Wettig, JoBeth Williams, Jill Eikenberry, Gena Rowlands and Treat Williams. "Parallel Lives" was broadcast August 14, 1994, on Showtime. Plot. A college reunion turns into a tangled web of passion, romance  and intrigue as old friends and enemies catch up with each other's lives. Production. The movie was developed by Yellen with the assistance of the Sundance Institute. As with "Chantilly Lace", it uses "guided improvisations" with the actors, after receiving some general character outlines, free to improvise. Parts of the film were shot in Salt Lake City, Utah, and California. Reception. The movie received mixed reviews. "New York Times" critic John Leonard argued: "'Parallel Lives' is injured in its lightness of being by Yellen's added structure. But until it sinks in murky narrative waters, it's a marvel  of raw edges and wild wit and surprise cunning, of craft that goes up like a kite to catch some lightning." The "Variety" critic Ray Loynd wrote: "When the movie works best (...), this is a movie that tends to make "The Big Chill" look sodden." On the other hand, Lynne Heffley opened her review for the "Los Angeles Times" with these words: "From the sublime to the ridiculous... and the ridiculous has the edge in 'Parallel Lives.' Jerry Roberts in his "Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors" defined the film as "a cattle call at the actors unemployment line" and film  critic Lewis Beale in his video review for the "New York Daily News" claimed that: "Linda Yellen's film wants to be hip, moving and Robert Altmanesque (overlapping dialogue and an improvisational feel), but it's simply tedious and stupid."