Cast: Bette Midler, Nathan Lane, Stockard Channing, David Hyde Pierce, Amanda Peet, John Cleese
Director: Andrew Bergman
Producer: Mike Lobell
Screenplay: Paul Rudnick, based on an article by Michael Korda
Cinematography: Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Music: Burt Bacharach
U.S. Distributor: Universal Pictures
Salacious, perverted, pornographic, illiterate, idiotic, mindless, trashy - all of these terms (and many more) have been used to describe the collective works of Jacqueline Susann, one of the most popular and notorious authors of the '60s and '70s. It's only fitting that a movie based on her life should receive the same kind of critical drubbing that Susann's books did, with one important difference. While Susann's writings offer an element of kinky, guilty pleasure, there's nothing remotely pleasant about Isn't She Great, which stands out as one of the most tedious and agonizing movies to pollute the screen so far this year. Its space on the end-of-the-year Bottom 10 List looks to be reserved.
Consider, for a moment, some of the people involved with this film. The director is Andrew Bergman, who was responsible for offbeat comedies like Honeymoon in Vegas and The Freshman, and who co-wrote Blazing Saddles. The screenwriter is Paul Rudnick, the man who scripted the very funny Jeffrey and the funnier In & Out. And one of the cast members is John Cleese, arguably the most talented comedian working today. So it's natural to expect a pointed, energetic satire from Isn't She Great, right? Wrong. This is a mawkish, hideously uneven bio-pic that would have trouble making it to network TV. It's the kind of film that uses cliches and gimmicks in place of character development, then expects us to shed a tear during a tender moment at the end. There aren't even more than one or two glib lines of dialogue to chuckle at, and certainly nothing worthy of heartfelt laughter. It's as if no really cared about the project, and the result is sloppy, ugly, and nearly unwatchable.
The film begins some time during the 1950s, when Jackie (Bette Midler), a would-be actress, meets Irving Mansfield (Nathan Lane), who would become her agent and husband. After they have been happily married for a while and their autistic son is being cared for in an exclusive clinic, Mansfield suggests a new career for his wife: writing. So she turns out her first effort, something called Valley of the Dolls, and Mansfield shops it around to various publishers. After numerous turn-downs, Henry Marcus (John Cleese) recognizes the book's commercial prospects, and buys it. So, after a bout with breast cancer which is treated like a throw-way, Susann (along with Mansfield) hits the road doing publicity for Valley of the Dolls. Soon after, she's rich and famous, and her marriage runs into trouble (it's never made clear exactly what went wrong or how it was smoothed out). Then there are more books and movies before she dies of cancer in 1974.
On paper, Bette Midler might seem like the perfect choice for this role, but her performance, which would seem over-the-top for an outright farce, argues otherwise. This is the kind of acting that makes camp look subtle. It's the work of someone who doesn't understand her character and over-emotes in a vain attempt to force the audience to understand what she's feeling. Middler's Susann is an awkward, uncomfortable figure, and is presented as a grand overachiever who triumphs despite adversity. Very little brashness remains. Middler's screen career has been checkered; this represents a new nadir.
Nathan Lane doesn't embarrass himself the way Middler does, but he's no standout, either. Then there's the strange case of John Cleese, who doesn't show up until 40 minutes into the film, is gone 30 minutes later, and only appears in a few scenes. Since starring in A Fish Called Wanda, Cleese has opted (with one exception - Fierce Creatures) to take small, highly-billed roles in movies that have mostly been lousy (Erik the Viking, Splitting Heirs, and The Out-of-Towners, to name a few). Isn't She Great continues this odd trend. Other actors trapped in this mess are Stockard Channing (playing Susann's best friend), David Hyde Pierce (as Susann's editor), and Amanda Peet.
All things considered, Isn't She Great couldn't have been much worse. This is the kind of movie that you see (if you're unlucky) and shake your head, wondering how it ever got made and how a group of reasonably talented individuals could have their names attached to it. I don't know the degree to which the movie is true to Susann's life and how much has been invented. In the end, it doesn't really matter. Better to leave Susann as a name and a picture on a dust jacket than to subject someone to this version of her story. Even Universal Studios has given the film a vote of "no confidence." Originally slated for a September 1999 opening, Isn't She Great was eventually dumped into the market during the cinematic wasteland of January. Even in that time frame, when poor quality is the common characteristic of nearly every release, Isn't She Great falls short. The only time anyone is going to use "great" in association with this movie is when reciting the title.
© 2000 James Berardinelli