PalCinema Review: The Four Seasons
May 4, 2025
The Four Seasons…44 Years Apart
By Dan Pal
Okay, so it’s May the 4th but I’m not going to write about Star Wars. If you don’t get that reference you’re still okay with me. Rather, I’m more interested in The Four Seasons – not the band from the 1960s and 70s and not, well, the “seasons.” Number one on Netflix’s Top Ten TV shows list this week (whatever that really means) is the new series The Four Seasons, starring, among others Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Will Forte, and Colman Domingo. The show is a reworking of the 1981 film written and directed by Alan Alda, and starring Alda, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis, Len Cariou, Jack Weston, and Bess Armstrong. Many of the reviewers and podcast hosts I’ve listened to about the new series either hadn’t seen the original or wondered why a film that is currently unavailable on streaming platforms would get a remake. Well, I’m not one of those people.
I loved the original film which I saw the year it was released, the same year I graduated high school. (Do the math.) Back then the films my friends and I were seeing were about people, not superheroes. The two previous Oscar winners for Best Picture, Kramer vs. Kramer and Ordinary People were deeply felt, incredibly well-acted, and true portraits about how families and friends interact. The Four Seasons, which became the ninth highest grossing film of 1981 fell in the same bucket – although it was more of a comedy than the other two. I would go on to watch the film pretty regularly over the next four decades. In the 1990s I’d get together with a group of friends and we’d try to bring to life the film’s chief concept: getting together for weekend getaways once a season. Like the film and the series there were the occasional issues involving everything from a karaoke night that could have gone bad to a “hot tub incident.”
So, when I heard about this new television remake I was more than intrigued. I couldn’t wait to see what they did with the film which had a running time of 107 minutes. The new series, which dropped on May 1st updates the story over eight roughly 30-minute episodes. This, of course, means that there would have to be more scenes and a general lengthening of the narrative. As the film covered one season at a time, so does the series. Episodes one and two take place in the Spring, three and four cover the Summer, and so on.
Does it work? Is it dated? My answers are a resounding yes to the former and no to the latter. While there are some major changes to the development of the plot there’s no question that the series stays true to the film’s form and tone. Because it takes place in the present, there’s nothing about it that doesn’t feel current. The characters, for instance, text, which of course was impossible in 1981. However, in both iterations of the story they do some of the same things real adults do today such as laugh, fight, have sex (or not), go boating, skiing, etc. Younger people might not be as interested in adult related issues and a certain lack of “action” but so what? It’s time for those of us who’ve been around been around for a few more decades to get a series like this to enjoy and relate to.
In the original, Alan Alda and Carol Burnett played the “lead” couple whereas here we get Will Forte and Tina Fey taking on what are essentially their roles with some slight character alterations. Len Cariou and Sandy Dennis played the long-married couple whose relationship is rocked when Cariou’s character announces he’s divorcing his wife and eventually ends up with a younger woman (Bess Armstrong). Here it’s Steve Carell who’s done with his marriage to Anne (Kerri Kenney) and finds much younger Ginny (Erika Henningsen) to start bringing around on the seasonal trips. The biggest change is in the roles originally played by Rita Moreno (Claudia, an “Italian”) and Jack Weston (Danny, a hypochondriac.) Now we have Marco Calvani (Claude, a true Italian) and Colman Domingo (Danny, who has his own real health issues), playing a gay couple who has been friends with the others for several years. It’s an interesting and welcome change as there were no gay or Black characters in the original film.
Each couple has their share of issues which vaguely resemble those found in Alda’s film. One of the other big shifts though is that the character of Anne is featured in all four of the seasons whereas Sandy Dennis’s Anne only appeared in two. I found this to be the least successful aspect of the update. In the original Anne seemed to be a bit adrift as she focused on her passion for painting vegetables. She’s a more vulnerable character than Kenney’s Anne who might be just as destroyed by her marriage ending but who keeps turning up on each of the trips which feels forced and, frankly, a bit annoying.
However, the rest of the series hits the mark very well. There are scenes that are clearly adapted from Alda’s film (he even has a welcome cameo in one episode) and a few lines of dialogue which are successfully re-used. (Burnett and Fey both discuss their middle age and “dry skin.”) Most of what the series offers though are some deeper analyses of the couples, particularly Forte and Fey as Jack and Kate, who experience increasingly tense marital discord over several episodes. Both actors become more comfortable in their roles as the series progresses too. Fey creates a character that feels new for her and not one that is trying to copy what Carol Burnett did in the movie. Like Alda, Forte as Jack bridges the line between comedy and drama quite skillfully. Forte’s Jack might not be the “therapist” of the group that Alda’s Jack is but he’s closer to being an equal with Kate and even takes on some of the previous Danny’s hypochondria.
One aspect of the film that is also improved upon is the slow realization on the part of Carell’s character that being involved with a woman decades younger than he is does have its drawbacks. She has a group of friends that has a different sense of fun, are mostly alcohol-free, and have no idea who Kenny Loggins is. Both Carell and Henningsen are excellent in their roles.
Colman Domingo and Marco Calvani have some decent chemistry as the gay couple with Domingo getting to show some new sides to a character that we haven’t seen him play in his recent Oscar-nominated roles in Rustin and Sing Sing. Calvani’s big physical swings at times feel a bit over the top but the actor is charming enough for that to be forgiven.
There are a couple of major twists that occur in the series’ final two episodes, which I won’t spoil, but offer some interesting possible directions for the show if it gets another season (which it probably will.)
I couldn’t be happier with the way this adaptation turned out. It’s so refreshing to be in the adult world with these characters as opposed to the large numbers of shows focusing on young people with their various 21st Century issues. The Four Seasons is definitely worth a watch for the rest of us.
The Four Seasons is now available to stream on Netflix.
Have you seen the original and/or the new series? What do you think?
Yes, very enjoyable. I liked spending time with these people and watch them hash out their differences. It’s a realistic adult comedy/drama - not an explosion, car chase, space ship or superhero in sight!
I watched it last weekend and loved it! Alda’s appearance was the icing on the cake. My favorite moment (trying not to give anything away) was the reveal of the crayon pic in the cabinet. I got pretty emotional at that point.