Is it a showbiz melodrama about the rivalry between a faded movie star and a successful author? Is it a black comedy about the unforeseen side effects of a mysterious magic potion? Or is it a spoof horror movie complete with detached body parts and walking dead? Be warned: seeing DEATH
BECOMES HER will probably not help you answer these questions.
This bizarre combination of SUNSET BOULEVARD, ATTACK OF THE KILLER ZOMBIES, and "Laugh In" stars Meryl Streep as Madeline Ashton, a beautiful, manipulative blonde actress whose star is beginning to fade. After stealing plastic surgeon Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis) from her college "friend" and
aspiring author Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn), Madeline proceeds to ruin Ernest's career and drive him to drink. Meanwhile, Helen, after growing to the size of a blimp and being institutionalized, realizes the only way to get even with Madeline is to become a beautiful, manipulative, blonde author.
Throw in a Gothic mansion from which the beautiful, manipulative, raven-haired Lisle von Rhuman (Isabella Rossellini) dispenses a magic potion that guarantees eternal youth, and the mix is complete.
DEATH BECOMES HER boasts some sharply funny dialogue and inventive special effects, and a couple of scenes achieve genuine comic lunacy--notably the film's opening, which finds Madeline starring in "Songbird," a Broadway musical version of Tennessee Williams's "Sweet Bird of Youth" complete with
gold lame and disco dancers. Bruce Willis does a good job as the bumbling Dr. Menville, and Meryl Streep's performance is flawless (Streep fans will be pleased to note that, in moments of stress, the actress adds an authentic Newark accent to her impressive repertoire.) The end result, though, is
a film that tries to do too many things at once and does none of them quite right. leave a comment