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Ellen Burstyn, Alan Alda, Ivan Bonar, William Cantrell, Bernie Kuby ... see more see more... , David Northcutt , Cosmo Sardo

Based on Bernard Slade's Broadway play of the same name, this film is about George, a married New Jersey accountant (Alan Alda), and Doris, a housewife (Ellen Burstyn). The two accidentally meet in a ... read more read more...Californian country inn in 1951. They have an affair, which they continue for the next 25 years, meeting only once a year for a weekend getaway at the same hotel. Through their long-running love affair, the audience witnesses the changes within America and its lifestyles over the course of a quarter of a century. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Flixster Users

79% liked it

4,177 ratings

Critics

40% liked it

5 critics

PG, 1 hr. 59 min.

Directed by: Robert Mulligan

Release Date: November 22, 1978

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DVD Release Date: April 6, 2004

Stats: 235 reviews

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Same Time, Next Year Ellen Burstyn & Alan Alda in Same Time, Next Year Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year Ellen Burstyn & Alan Alda in Same Time, Next Year
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Flixster Reviews (235)

  • danperry17
    February 12, 2011
    danperry17
    I saw 20 minutes from the middle of this on TV probably five years ago and thought "looks pretty good." I think they were the best 20 minutes of the movie. Overall, this one comes off like your average community theatre play, and it appears to have a lot of lines that would have ... read moreworked better on stage. The problem (well, a problem, there are a quite a few) is that this was shot as though it were on stage, in a lot of long shots in front of cheap scenery. The acting is so-so, but the dialogue is brutal - fast-forward the first 15 minutes or more, you won't miss anything - and the plot clunks along. And yet, strangely, the story does gets its hooks in you. You can't stop watching. You need to know how it ends. Unfortunately, this is just mediocre or worse on so many levels that the interesting premise can't save it.
  • jjnxn
    April 8, 2007
    jjnxn
    ellen burstyn is an actress of almost limitless ability as she shows here.
  • keystar1970
    February 3, 2009
    keystar1970
    In a weird way it's kinda like the Godfather. The protagonists are doing a wrong thing, but you root for them to make it work.
  • ileo
    December 25, 2007
    ileo
    Great!
  • threefolddado
    December 23, 2007
    threefolddado
    Great offbeat love story.
  • absolutnormal
    June 25, 2008
    absolutnormal
    This movie is about an affair but you cant help but love the 2 characters in the film and their love for each other and their "Families"
    ::|::Favorite::|::
  • luvmash4077
    February 24, 2008
    luvmash4077
    Alan Alda is one of my favorite actors and yet the whole time I was picturing him as Hawkeye from MASH. Needless to say this movie was different than any thing else I've seen. I recommend it because it is a good movie but watch at your own risk.
  • SansSouciBlogs1
    February 24, 2008
    SansSouciBlogs1
    American: One of my faves.
    A loving couple meets annually for emotional and physical intimacy. They share everything except a marriage. Maybe that's why it worked!?

    In 1981 my husband and I took a trip to the west coast and travelled north from San Francisco.
    We stayed in an inn... read more in Mendocino, California that was dramatically located on a spit high above the crashing waves of the Pacific. Each little cottage had a decorative theme; ours was serendipitously called, ?The Schoolhouse ? a perfect refuge for two traveling teachers. It was corny but charming to have a blackboard, a flag and the alphabet posted along the room. trust me, it was beautifully done. The food was lovely, the fireplace in the main house was great.
    We never imagined that we were staying in the very place where ?Same time, Next Year? had been filmed in 1977 (and released in 1978).

    This is a love story; there is nothing else you can call it. Here is a couple who are deeply in love, involved, committed and adoring of each other. Married. But not to each other.

    They meet in 1951; George is a CPA in the area to do a client?s taxes. He has flown all the way in from New Jersey. Doris has stopped at the inn on her way to a Christian retreat. their eyes met in the dining room, their heads met on the couch in front of the fireplace (where my tush would later rest in July, 1981) and their bodies met in bed. Many subsequent times, through 1977.

    They have met at the same place, the same time each year and passionately rekindle their friendship which begins to look more and more like a marriage. In fact, their marriage is perfect. They quarrel, laugh, cry, commiserate with complete understanding and support.
    Each time reveal one good and one bad thing about their spouses. We know they love their families, we know they love their spouses, and we know they love each other.

    Each time a scene changes and the couple is about to meet again, we see a montage of changes in history to provide a backdrop place marker of events. This deepens our understanding of the character. As the years pass, Doris finishes High School, joins a book club, goes to college, becomes a hippy, gets pregnant (by her husband, and comes to the tryst with an 8 month belly.
    Of course she goes into labor just as she and George are about to ?work something out sexually.? She goes into business, becomes a grandmother. The evolution of the characters is poignant; George?s son is killed during a sniper attack in the Viet Nam War. He has never been able to cry, until hippy Doris embraces him and gives him permission?by crying with him.

    Though the film is light, at times frothy, it is well written from play to screen. It has just the right romanticism and true love to make cheating acceptable, and reminds us that we are all human and vulnerable.

    True love with more than one person is a possibility; friendship can be the springboard to anything.
  • terryc1000
    January 11, 2008
    terryc1000
    Play turned movie. Even though this movie is about cheating, you can't help but love it! Very entertaining. Slip into this one. It's very comfortable.
  • MarilynsDisciple
    November 7, 2007
    MarilynsDisciple
    Alright, I finally saw it. It was ok, very romantic..in a weird way. Ellen Burstyn is incredible as usual, but Alan Alda's character was very WEIRD. Pretty funny though.

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Critic Reviews

Michael E. Grost
July 6, 2010
Michael E. Grost, Classic Film and Television

Well done filmed play absorbs us in the characters' lives. Full Review

Urban Cinefile Critics
November 17, 2007
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile

It's funny, sad, unexpected and moving. Just like life and its relationships Full Review

Emanuel Levy
September 21, 2007
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

An overlong, tiresome, excessively theatrical comedy, based on Bernard Slade's play, about a 25 year tryst of a married man and married woman (Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda. Full Review

Nick Davis
March 3, 2006
Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks

Satisfied neither to be honestly frivolous or sincerely ambitious, Same Time, Next Year winds up giving a bad name both to comedy and to drama. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
November 23, 2005
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

What worked on the stage doesn't on film. Full Review

December 11, 2008
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 9, 2005
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Derek Adams
June 24, 2006
Derek Adams, Time Out

Click to read the article Full Review

May 24, 2003
Film4

Click to read the article Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Same Time, Next Year Trivia

  • As the film "Ordinary People" opens, the characters played by Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland are watching a play. That play was made into a film in 1978. What is it called?  Answer »
  • What film had this tag line:They could not have celebrated happier anniversaries if they were married to each other ?   Answer »
  • Who was from the Broadway run of this play/film [came to the movie acting the same character ]in Same Time Next Year ?  Answer »
  • Alan Alda's career zoomed with 'MASH'. One of his movies was 'Same Time, Next Year'. Who was his co-star in the movie?  Answer »
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