''I Love Trouble'' is a 1994 American romantic comedy/crime film starring

Julia Roberts Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. Known for her leading roles in films encompassing a variety of genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and th ...

and

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

. It was written and produced by the husband-and-wife team of

Nancy Meyers Nancy Jane Meyers (born December 8, 1949) is an American filmmaker. She has written, produced, and directed many critically and commercially successful films including '' Private Benjamin'' (1980), '' Irreconcilable Differences'' (1984), ''Baby ...

and Charles Shyer, and directed by Shyer.

Plot

Peter Brackett and Sabrina Peterson are two rival Chicago newspaper reporters. Sabrina is young and ambitious, whereas Peter is a fading star and has just published his first novel. They reluctantly join forces to unravel the mystery behind a train derailment. They argue over almost everything but discover a conspiracy involving genetically altered milk.

Cast

- Sabrina Peterson *

- Peter Brackett *

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on ''Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

- Sam Smotherman/Ernesto Vargas *

James Rebhorn James Robert Rebhorn (September 1, 1948 – March 21, 2014) was an American character actor who appeared in over 100 films, television series, and plays. At the time of his death, he had recurring roles in the series '' White Collar'' and ''Hom ...

- the Thin Man *

Robert Loggia Salvatore "Robert" Loggia ( , ; January 3, 1930 – December 4, 2015) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Jagged Edge'' (1985) and won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for ...

- Matt Greenfield, ''Chronicle'' Editor *

Kelly Rutherford Kelly Rutherford (born November 6, 1968) is an American actress. She is known for her television roles as Stephanie "Sam" Whitmore on the NBC daytime soap opera ''Generations'' (1989–1991), as Megan Lewis on the Fox primetime soap opera ''Mel ...

- Kim *

Olympia Dukakis Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, more than 60 films and in 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not lon ...

- Jeannie, Peter's Secretary *

Marsha Mason Marsha Mason (born April 3, 1942) is an American actress and director. She has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress: for her performances in '' Cinderella Liberty'' (1973), '' The Goodbye Girl'' (1977), '' Chapter Two ...

- Senator Gayle Robbins * Eugene Levy - Justice of the Peace *

Charles Martin Smith Charles Martin Smith (born October 30, 1953) is an American actor, writer, and director of film and television, based in British Columbia. He is known for his roles in ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), '' Never Cry Wo ...

- Rick Medwick * Dan Butler - Wilson Chess *

Paul Gleason Paul Xavier Gleason (May 4, 1939 – May 27, 2006) was an American film and television actor. He was known for his roles on television series such as '' All My Children'' and films such as ''The Breakfast Club'', ''Trading Places'', and ''Di ...

- Kenny Bacon * Jane Adams - Evans *

Lisa Lu Lisa Lu Yan (; born January 19, 1927) is a Chinese actress. She won the Golden Horse Awards three times in the 1970s. She is the only person who is a member of both the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts ...

- Virginia Harvey *

Nora Dunn Nora Dunn (born April 29, 1952) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch variety TV series '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990, Dr. Reynolds in ''The Nanny'' (1998-1999), and Muriel in '' Home Economic ...

- Lindy *

Megan Cavanagh Megan Cavanagh (born November 8, 1960) is an American actress, who is best known for portraying Marla Hooch in ''A League of Their Own'' and the voice of Judy Neutron in '' Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'' and ''The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Ge ...

- Mrs. Delores Beekman *

Clark Gregg Robert Clark Gregg Jr. (born April 2, 1962) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for playing Agent Phil Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films ''Iron Man'' (2008), '' Iron Man 2'' (2010), ''Thor'' (2011), ' ...

- Darryl Beekman, Jr. * Anna Holbrook - Woman in Sportscar *

Jay Wolpert Jay Wolpert (January 29, 1942 – January 3, 2022) was an American television producer and screenwriter. Life and career Wolpert was born in The Bronx, New York City. His first television appearance came as a contestant on the original version o ...

- Passing Writer *

Andy Milder Andy Milder (born August 16, 1969) is an American actor. Career He has appeared in such films as ''Apollo 13'', ''Armageddon'', ''Rumor Has It…'', '' Frost/Nixon'', ''Transformers'', and '' Domino''. He was a series regular on ''Fame L.A.'' ...

- Copy Man *

Dorothy Lyman Dorothy Lyman is an American television actress, director and producer. She is most known for her work as Gwen Frame on '' Another World'' and on ''All My Children'' as Opal Sue Gardner, as Rebecca Whitmore on ''Generations'', and on the sitcom ...

- Suzie *

Keith Gordon Keith Gordon (born February 3, 1961) is an American actor and film director. Early life Gordon was born in New York City, the son of Mark, an actor and stage director, and Barbara Gordon. He grew up in an atheist Jewish family. Gordon was in ...

- Andy * Joseph D'Onofrio - Sully * Barry Sobel - Delivery Person *

Frankie Faison Frankie Russel Faison (born June 10, 1949) is an American actor known for his role as Deputy Commissioner, and, later, Commissioner, Ervin Burrell in the HBO series ''The Wire'', as Barney Matthews in the ''Hannibal Lecter'' franchise, and as Su ...

- Police Chief * Stuart Pankin - Society Photographer * James 'Kimo' Wills - Danny Brown * Patrick St. Esprit - Assassin * Paul Hirsch - Man on Plane *

Jessica Lundy Jessica R. Lundy (born March 20, 1966) is an American actress best known for her television roles, especially as Joel Fleishman's fiancée/ex-fiancée Elaine Shulman on the series '' Northern Exposure''. Early life and education Lundy was born in ...

- Flight Attendant #1 *

Nestor Serrano Nestor Serrano (born November 5, 1955 in The Bronx, New York) is an American film and television actor. He is known for playing Navi Araz in the fourth season of '' 24''. He also appeared as Emilio Loera in the fourth season of the Cinemax se ...

- Pecos *

Robin Duke Robin Duke (born March 13, 1954) is a Canadian actress, comedian, and voice actress. Duke may be best known for her work on the television comedy series '' SCTV'' and, later, ''Saturday Night Live''. She co-founded ''Women Fully Clothed'', a ske ...

- Sandra * Bruce A. Block - Man at Newsstand * Hallie Meyers-Shyer - Little Girl in Barn

Production

In February 1993 it was announced Nolte had been cast as one of the leads. Nolte and Roberts notoriously did not get along with each other during the making of the film. Roberts has described him as "disgusting," whereas Nolte has said she's "not a nice person."

Reception

The film grossed over $30 million in box-office receipts in the United States and less than $62 million worldwide. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 22% rating based on 46 reviews. The site's consensus states: "There appears to be no ''Love'' lost between the fatally mismatched coupling of Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte in this screwball misfire that just isn't worth the ''Trouble''." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F. Todd McCarthy of ''Variety'' wrote: "The goings-on seem lacking in wit and inspiration, tolerably entertaining but far from effervescent." Roger Ebert of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' wrote: "Maybe it would have been funnier if the evil cow conglomerate had been replaced by something sillier and more lightweight; it's hard to sustain a romantic comedy in the face of death threats." According to Nolte, it is the worst film in which he has ever appeared. He felt he sold his soul by doing it, and he did it only for the money. As a result, he was tense while on the set, and did not have a good working relationship with Julia Roberts. Roberts has, on her part, called Nolte the worst actor with whom she has ever worked.

Year-end lists

* Sixth worst –

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...

, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' * Top 12 worst (Alphabetically ordered, not ranked) – David Elliott, ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'' *Dishonorable mention – Glenn Lovell, ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'' * Dishonorable mention – Dan Craft, ''

The Pantagraph ''The Pantagraph'' is a daily newspaper that serves Bloomington–Normal, Illinois, along with 60 communities and eight counties in the Central Illinois area. Its headquarters are in Bloomington and it is owned by Lee Enterprises. The name is ...

Music

Elmer Bernstein originally wrote the underscore, but his music was thrown out, and David Newman was called in at such a late stage that posters with Bernstein's name on the credits were already displayed. With only two weeks to rescore the film, Newman - who usually orchestrates the bulk of his scores himself - used a small army of orchestrators to help him complete the score: Scott Smalley, Chris Boardman, William Kidd, Peter Tomashek, Steven Bramson, Christopher Klatman, Don Davis, Joel Rosenbaum, Arthur Kempel (misspelt "Kempl" in the end credits), Mark McKenzie, Brad Warnaar (misspelt "Warner" in the end credits), and John Neufeld. The soundtrack album was released by

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as well as newer r ...

, including a cover version of the Smokey Robinson song "You've Really Got a Hold on Me"; only Smalley and Boardman received orchestrator credit on the album (but Ross received an acknowledgement - as does

Alan Silvestri Alan Anthony Silvestri (born March 26, 1950) is an American composer and conductor of film and television scores. He has been associated with director Robert Zemeckis since 1984, composing music for all of his feature films including the ''Ba ...

, who was also attached to the project). # Here's Peter (5:09) # Here's Sabrina (1:54) # Calling All Boggs (1:15) # Honeymoon Night (4:55) # Two Scoop Snoops (3:39) # Everybody Buys the Globe (:46) # Scoop de Jour (3:15) # Sabrina's Hip (1:04) # Wild Goose Chase (1:16) # The Beekman Agreement (2:02) # Keyhole Foreplay (1:20) # Happily Ever After (2:21) # "I Love Trouble" (3:43) # You've Really Got a Hold On Me - Robbyn Kirmsse (3:37)

References

External links

* * * {{Charles Shyer 1994 films Films directed by Charles Shyer Films with screenplays by Charles Shyer 1994 romantic comedy films Films set in Chicago Films shot in Chicago Films shot in Wisconsin American romantic comedy films Touchstone Pictures films Caravan Pictures films Films about journalists Films with screenplays by Nancy Meyers Films scored by David Newman 1990s English-language films 1990s American films