The Troubles With 'Man Trouble' : Movies: The film won't be screened for critics before its release. 'Marketing decision,' says one executive of Fox, the distributor. It 'isn't a good movie,' says another.

By ELAINE DUTKA

July 10, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

On paper, it looks great: a movie reuniting Jack Nicholson, director Bob Rafelson and screenwriter Carole Eastman--the team that brought you the groundbreaking classic “Five Easy Pieces” two decades ago. Add Ellen Barkin for some heavy-duty sizzle and it’s a project a studio would kill for.

But there’s trouble with “Man Trouble,” which will be released by 20th Century Fox next Friday with a notable lack of fanfare, an unusual move for a Nicholson film released during the prime moviegoing season of the year.

The movie will not be screened in advance for critics, ensuring that no reviews will come out before the all-important opening weekend. The decision was a joint one between Fox, which is distributing the film, and the independent PentAmerica, which produced it.

“It’s a marketing decision,” says Andrea Jaffe, president of domestic marketing for 20th Century Fox Corp. “That’s all I’m prepared to say.”

“It’s a pickup from Penta,” says Fox Production chief Roger Birnbaum, taking pains to distance himself from the close to $30-million project. “I am in charge of acquisitions, but I haven’t seen it yet.”

“Man Trouble” is a romantic comedy about a classical singer (Barkin) who, having received a series of mysterious threats, seeks help from an attack-dog trainer (Nicholson). Also featuring Beverly D’Angelo and Harry Dean Stanton, the film is the second in a three-picture deal between the West L.A.-based PentAmerica and Fox. The first, “Folks!,” starring Tom Selleck and Don Ameche, was a box-office flop. “House of Cards,” a melodrama starring Kathleen Turner and Tommy Lee Jones, will be released in the fall.

The studio had the option of taking its name off “Man Trouble,” but opted to leave it on--in very small type. Alienating Nicholson, the closest thing Hollywood has to a sure shot, is bad business.

“ ‘Man Trouble’ isn’t a good movie,” admits one Fox executive. “It hasn’t played well. But we want to protect our relationship with Nicholson, who’s also starring for us in ‘Hoffa’ (a Danny De Vito film about the life of teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa). That one, we think, will be gigantic.”

Screenwriter and co-producer Carole Eastman first heard of the “no screening” policy through the grapevine. Not surprising, she says, given the fact that her sole contact with the studio was a phone call to Fox executive vice president and former head of marketing and distribution Tom Sherak inquiring why “Man Trouble” was being released during the cutthroat summer period and one week before the Olympics.

“It seems to me, as to everyone else, that Fox is cutting its losses,” says Eastman. “No one wants to be sliced up by the reviewers but I prefer it to sweeping this under the rug.”

If his co-producer is upset with Fox’s marketing strategy, Bruce Gilbert insists he is not. “The TV spots started airing last Tuesday and represent an expense of millions and millions of dollars,” he says. “There’s a very substantial campaign in terms of advertising, publicity and promotion. Fox’s decision is a judgment call, one with which I’m satisfied. The movie will either find its audience or not--and, frankly, I think it will. We have a well-acted romantic comedy in a summer full of explosions and mayhem. The only other counterprogramming is ‘A League of Their Own.’ ”

Fox’s decision was only the latest hurdle in the decade-long “Man Trouble” marathon--a stop-and-start venture to which a number of directors (Jonathan Demme, Larry Kasdan), actresses (Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Diane Keaton), and actors (Robert De Niro, and possibly Al Pacino) were once attached. “This was, in no way, intended to be a ‘reunion movie,’ ” Eastman asserts. “It was much more a case of catch-as-catch-can.”

The screenwriter is vocal about her dissatisfaction with the film. On the set every day, she and co-producer Bruce Gilbert (“Coming Home”) repeatedly locked horns with Rafelson, a longtime friend of hers and Nicholson’s and a well-respected, if autocratic, director.

“There were four or five volatile personalities on the shoot,” she recalls, “and knock-down, drag-out fights over certain issues. Maybe it was inevitable. A male director has a very different set of eyes and experiences which lead to distortions in the translation.

“I learned a lot from the experience,” Eastman adds. “Bob and I would kiss each other if we ran into each other on the street, but we probably shouldn’t make a movie together again. He knows it and I know it. We’re not a very good cocktail.”

Fox says it won’t lose money on either “Folks!” or “Man Trouble” since it only footed the bill for prints and advertising. PentAmerica--formed when Italian producers Vittorio and Mario Cecci Gori and European cable king Silvio Berlusconi merged two years ago--has a lot more on the line. Though its European wing, Penta Films, produced this year’s Oscar-winning “Mediterraneo,” its American equivalent has yet to hit it big.

“Of course, we’re anxious,” admits one PentAmerica insider. “What’s at stake is less economics than pride. Fox liked the film, as far as we know. Anyhow, Nicholson’s fans like him no matter what he’s in. They’ll come out just like Eddie Murphy’s fans are for ‘Boomerang,’ despite the critical pans.”

Fox will release the film in 1,000 theaters as planned, hoping that star power will pack the houses for the first weekend at least.

“If we didn’t screen ‘Hoffa,’ an important holiday release, there’d be an outrage,” admits one studio executive. “That’s not the case, this time. Critics will be tossing quarters to see who has to review the film. They don’t want to see the bad ones either.”