Hello Again
by Frank Perry
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Actor: Corbin Bernsen, Gabriel Byrne, Judith Ivey, Sela Ward, Shelley LongDirector: Frank Perry
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Producer: Frank Perry
Producer: G. Mac Brown
Producer: Martin Mickelson
Producer: Salah M. Hassanein
Producer: Susan Isaacs
Writer: Susan Isaacs
Producer: Tom Folino
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-04-06
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Walt Disney Video
DVD Reviews of Hello Again
DVD Review: Back From The Dead And On Life Support
Summary: 2 Stars
Shelley Long's decision to leave CHEERS, ostensibly to focus on movies, made her the brunt of many a late night talk show barb. Understandably so since it seemed like classic show biz hubris. You're on a great TV series and garnering acclaim and Emmy nominations, so you leap to the conclusion that big screen success is virtually inevitable if you but make the leap. In Long's case, she went from the Emmy winning CHEERS to, well, TROOP BEVERLY HILLS, followed by a string of other cinematic flops. Admittedly there were some successes too, but when critics--or comedians--are looking for examples of bad show biz career moves, Shelley Long's case always seems to be at or near the top of the list.
It probaby should be noted that the 1987 film HELLO AGAIN was actually made BEFORE Long's announcement that she would be leaving CHEERS. This Disney/Touchstone comedy had been preceded by the much more successful (both critically AND commercially) OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE) with Bette Midler. Long, like Midler, was apparently being groomed for Touchstone stardom, but it probably should have been clear to both Long and her handlers that not every Touchstone film would do for her career what FORTUNE had done. HELLO AGAIN's critical and box office failure probably should have sounded a clear warning that cinematic success just might prove more elusive that it may have appeared at first blush.
This film's "high concept" is that a socially and physically awkward wife and mother dies in a comically(?) quirky way (choking to death on a piece of Korean chicken) and is brought back to life by her endearingly eccentric, New Agey sister's (laughably hammy) incantations exactly one year after her death. In the intervening year, all kinds of changes have occurred--including her plastic surgeon hubby's remarriage to her glitzy, best friend. You can imagine the "highjinks" that ensue.
One such complication is her husband's apparently hasty marriage to her former best friend. If that promts you to feel sorry for poor Shelley, you needn't fret. True, her shallow husband (Corbin Bernsen) has no desire to leave his current and equally shallow wife (Sela Ward) and the chique urban lifestyle they have since adopted. But we know that truer love must be right around the corner, namely in the form of the handsome, soulful doctor she literally met on her deathbed (well, ok, it'd be more accurate to say her death gurney). Of course, you just know that she's going to hook up with Dr. Right again upon her resurrection. (Hardly a spoiler, I trust, since a five-year old could tell you that you don't exchange glances like that unless your cosmically matched).
Can a story this patently silly even begin to succeed. Certainly, more outrageous premises have been successfully handled before. But you need sharp, sharp, SHARP writing, keen directing and spot on acting. You don't see nearly enough of any of these in HELLO AGAIN. It's a common enough Hollywood syndrome--the belief that a wacky premise is enough. It's not, and it can't sustain the film's tepid humor, plodding story line and weak character development. We are, at least, spared a chase scene.
A number of the reviews published on public sites like Amazon, seem to tout this film's virtues as family fare. It's true you needn't worry about the little ones seeing anything objectionable here, and some of the younger ones may like the film's hokey hocus pocus. But the film actually tries to make some grown up statements about accepting change and moving on--always relevant messages, certainly, but hardly the most significant lessons a profound event like resurrection from the dead would seem to offer.
Long's apparent career blunder, of course, is hardly of cosmic significance either. Twenty years after the fact, I imagine that the real-life Shelley Long has "moved on" as well. HELLO AGAIN probably should have served as a very earthly warning that good comedy scripts are hard to come by, no matter how gifted a comic actor you may be (and I do believe that Shelley Long is certainly that). Letting go of a great small screen role for an iffy big-screen future may have been unwise as career moves go. As stated, this film should have served her as a warning of sorts. As it stands, it's likely that the small screen success of CHEERS will remain the highlight of Shelley Long's career. On the other hand, like most of the cast of this flop (incluing Byrne, Bernson, Ward and Judith Ivey, who had perhaps the film's most unfortunate role as the eccentric sister), she has remained a working actor with plenty of large and small screen credits on her imdb roster.
And there are struggling actors out there who would DIE for that level of success.
Description of Hello Again
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