Siskel & Ebert (TV Series)

A Perfect World/We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story/Mrs. Doubtfire/The Nutcracker/A Dangerous Woman (1993)

Gene Siskel: Self - Host

Quotes 

• Gene Siskel - Host : [reviewing "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story"]  Did the voice of Walter Cronkite just really ring hollow to you?

  Roger Ebert - Host : Well...

  Gene Siskel - Host : It's not HIS fault, it's, they shouldn't have been casting it...

  Roger Ebert - Host : Yeah, well, of course, you have Julia Child, too. You have a lot of peop- Jay Leno.

  Gene Siskel - Host : But HIS voice is probably the most distinctive voice. He comes on, and it's such arch dialogue...

  Roger Ebert - Host : Well, now that's an odd criticism, Gene, because the fact is...

  Gene Siskel - Host : Yeah?

  Roger Ebert - Host : ...For the kids who see this movie, they won't know that Walter Cronkite was on the news. So the voice will be new to them. Think about it- you're getting older, old man.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Um...

  Roger Ebert - Host : Getting older.

  Gene Siskel - Host : We ALL are, I think. Even those little kids are getting older.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Especially you.

• Roger Ebert - Host : "Mrs. Doubtfire" is funny at times, but not THAT funny, and I guess it's supposed to be sort of moving, too, that a father would go through such an effort for his children. But somehow, I never saw father there, I only saw Robin Williams, in a role that was tailor-made to exploit his talent for impersonation without ever really using his talent as an actor.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Well, I enjoyed this film a lot, Roger. And I think that the problem may be for some people, they're gonna compare this against "Tootsie".

  Roger Ebert - Host : Oh yeah.

  Gene Siskel - Host : And "Tootsie" is a classic, great American film. This is NOT in that league, but I think there are some sequences that are. And I'm particularly talking about a scene that you didn't get the chance to show, and that is a scene where Robin Williams has to run, in the restaurant, this is a long chunk of the film...

  Roger Ebert - Host : Yeah, and it didn't work.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Oh my God...

  Roger Ebert - Host : It didn't, it never...

  Gene Siskel - Host : It's classic farce.

  Roger Ebert - Host : It never took off.

  Gene Siskel - Host : And he has to play Mrs. Doubfire in one part of the restaurant with his wife and kids.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Yes.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Then he has to play the wr- the struggling actor trying to get a job on his TV station with his boss, and the running before- I tell ya, there was genuine tension developing.

  Roger Ebert - Host : But Gene, that scene was set up as a kind of screwball, classic scene.

  Gene Siskel - Host : And I think it is.

  Roger Ebert - Host : It never paid off.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Oh, I think that is wonderful.

  Roger Ebert - Host : They just couldn't get it to work.

  Gene Siskel - Host : I thought that was wonderful. And I think that there are tender moments in the film, too. There are some, the- the little sequence you saw of the, that you said at the employment office, that's kinda silly.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Yes, it is.

  Gene Siskel - Host : But that's... a minute out of a really enjoyable film.