I'll acknowledge that as far as romantic comedies go, this is not one of the better ones. The dialogue is stilted, and the leads are a lot more believable when they're fighting than when they're making up. Despite all the negative comments about "Key Exchange," this is a pleasant enough diversion with a strong cast. I give it a marginal thumbs up: 6 stars out of 10.
shareI'm not sure why people hate this movie so much either. Ebert completely tore it apart. The irony is that the off-Broadway play on which this film was based was a critical and box office success. Both Ben Masters and Brooke Adams were in the original stage production as well.
Mind you there were a number of significant changes to the story that fundamentally altered it, since the original play was not a romantic comedy and literally only takes place in the park. The play was a comedy (somewhat of a tragedy as well), but it had a very cynical tone and an even more cynical ending.
Did you see the original play, by chance? And can you reveal the cynical ending of the play? I'm getting the feeling somebody died, especially when you describe it as somewhat of a tragedy.
I'm not surprised that the movie version was a departure from the play, especially with the film's emphasis on bicycling (which I found rather odd). I don't really consider this film a romantic comedy anyway, though I'm not sure how I'd categorize it. Of course, romantic comedies weren't nearly as cut and dried in the '80s as they are today. A lot has changed since the likes of Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore and Kate Hudson started cranking them out, and not necessarily for the better.