feoruary 4, 2QQQ * J u st o u t
I s n ’ t S h e G r e a t
A
cinematic biography of novelist Jacqueline
Susann— who wrote Valley of the Dolls, the
best-selling novel of all time— could be a
number of things: a psychological look at
Susann’s desperate pursuit of fame as a panacea
for her tragedy-plagued persona) life, an
abstract treatise on art vs. commerce, or even a
simple American dream story.
Isn't She Great is none of the above. Instead,
in the hands of director Andrew Bergman
(Striptease), screenwriter Paul Rudnick (In &
Out) and star Bette Midler, Susann’s life is curi
ously transformed into a breezy, episodic comic
bauble, funnier than most sitcoms, but with the
same lack of depth.
In fact, the film is as simplistic and mind
lessly entertaining as one of Susann’s novels.
We see nothing of her childhood or parents;
the script mostly sticks to Susann’s hunger for
fame, her relationship with her manager-
husband, Irving Mansfield (an oddly cast
Nathan Lane), and her dubious concealment
from the world of her mentally disabled son
and her own terminal breast cancer.
Along for the ride is David Hyde Pierce as
an uptight book editor whose task is to edit
Valley of the Dolls, though he despises it. (Pierce
plays his character as if he were still on televi
sion doing Niles Crane for Frasier.)
Midler’s familiar screen persona is similar to
Susann’s own personality, and she doesn’t stray
far from it here. Cheerfully vulgar, gaudy and
superficially outrageous, her performance will
delight those who already enjoy her, but it’s
unlikely to win Midler any new fans.
Rudnick’s script lamely glosses over any
unpleasant or complicated aspects of Susann’s
life, including her crassness, the critical rejec
tion of her writing, her many trials in marriage
and motherhood, and her bisexuality. Her 1974
death seems incidental in this context and
doesn’t register emotionally.
Isn’t She Great, now playing at area theaters,
can only be heartily recommended for die-hard
Bette Midler fans and those looking for very
light comedy. Those seeking an exploration of
the serious questions surrounding Jacqueline
Susann’s life and career are advised to look
elsewhere.
— Christopher McQuain
H o ly S m o k e
ane Campion’s Holy Smoke sounds like a
fantastic idea on paper: The co-writer and
W director of An Angel at My Table and The
Piano tells the story of a young woman (Kate
Winslet) infatuated with Hinduism, her fami
ly’s attempts to deprogram her, and her bizarre
relationship with the specialist (Harvey Keitel)
they hire to do the job.
So what went wrong.7 When the film does
work, it’s apparent that Campion intended to
seriously probe issues like spirituality, trust, sex
and gender. These highbrow aspirations are
waylaid by her unwarranted focus on the young
woman’s surprisingly irrelevant family. The
bumbling father, hysterical mother and two
brothers (one macho, one gay) seem to have
wandered in from a different movie.
Though Campion occasionally conveys her
ideas fluently— especially in the scene when
Winslet’s family gives her over to Keitel; and
later, when Winslet titillatingly cajoles Keitel
into cross dressing— she undoes herself by too
frequently putting arch ideology, rather than
real dialogue, into the characters’ mouths. The
film is simply not rigorous enough, visually or
intellectually, to support such abstractions.
Despite its occasional brilliance and fine
performances from Winslet and Keitel, Holy
Smoke is, overall, a noble failure. It is scheduled
to open this month at area theaters.
— CM
T h e T h ir d M ir a c l e
laying Roxanne, a lost soul and daughter of
a would-be saint, Anne Heche looks good
as a redhead and even carries off the late
’70s hippie-ethnic wardrobe. It’s Ed Harris’ job
to investigate the worthiness of her dead moth
er’s case for the Catholic Church.
Set in Chicago from 1979 to 1983, The
Third Miracle is first and foremost a star turn for
Harris, a priest experiencing a crisis of faith.
While his character wonders “Where does faith
go.7” he plops, drunk and agonizing, into a
friend’s confessional. His friend replies: “This is
first year seminary bull session stuff.” To which
he shouts back: “It had better be true— all of
it.” (Meaning God, heaven and all the other
tenets of his faith. If he decides to give up his
worldly life— and the love of Roxanne— for
nothing, boy is he going to be pissed!)
Harris’ priest has his own take on ethics, as
he robs the candle money box to aid a young
woman in need and proceeds with the investi
gation in his own unorthodox manner, which
has him conducting cozy interviews with Rox
anne, played by Heche with natural, not flashy
assurance.
Roxanne is a skeptic and sees no reason
why the woman who abandoned her should be
made a saint. In true Hollywood fashion,
Father Frank rescues Roxanne from the sham
bles she has made of her life, and she, in turn,
does more or less the same for him. A t one piv
otal moment she confronts him: “Are you
gonna spend your whole life caring more about
a dead woman than a live woman.7”
By the end of The Third Miracle, the padre
has made his choice in this thoughtful medita
tion on faith that also takes a few jabs at the
excesses of the Catholic patriarchy. The film is
scheduled to open later this month at KOIN
Cinemas.
—Oriana Green
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■ C hristopher M c Q uain is a Portland-hosed
writer and tireless observer of pop culture.
Garden Show.
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