Isn't She Great
by Andrew Bergman
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DVD details
Actor: Bette Midler, David Hyde Pierce, John Cleese, Nathan Lane, Stockard ChanningDirector: Andrew Bergman
Brand: Universal Studios
Producer: Alex Barder
Producer: Cathy Schulman
Producer: Gary Levinsohn
Producer: Mark Gordon
Producer: Mike Lobell
Writer: Michael Korda
Writer: Paul Rudnick
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
Published: 2000-07-01
DVD Release Date: 2000-07-18
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Isn't She Great
DVD Review: Undivine Ms M
Summary: 2 Stars
The answer is, no, she is not great. Not by a long shot. This movie doesn't work on any level. Bette Midler and Nathan Lane are two of the most over-the-top scenery chewers to ever hit the silver screen. In the right vehicle they would both be fabulous, but this wasn't it. Here the tone and mood are all wrong.
It is the story of trashy best selling novelist Jacqueline Susann (Bette Midler) and her press agent/husband Irving Mansfield (Nathan Lane). He seems to be the one asking 'Isn't She Great,' but he never seems to hear that people are saying 'no she is not.' In spite or because of her lack of literary talent, she becomes a huge success. Cancer and an autistic child were personal burdens she had to bear. Why then is the tone so slap stick? It doesn't work. It is like Springtime for Hitler, but without the laughs. At one point Truman Capote is shown on TV saying Jacqueline Susann's novels aren't writing, they are just typing (he really said it about Jack Kerouac, but it would be better applied to Susann). Capote was a great writer, in spite of his flaws, and the movie about him won an Oscar for Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Capote was a much better movie than Isn't She Great.
I thought the movie might be good, or else it would be so bad that it would be entertaining, like something Joe Eszterhas would do. It was not bad enough to be entertaining, it was just apalling watching Midler and Lane mugging, thinking they were doing so fantastic. The tagline is talent isn't everything. Unfortunately, lack of talent IS everything when it comes to Isn't She Great (what, no question mark?).
The Rose (1979) .... Bette Midler was nominated for an Oscar for playing Mary Rose Foster
For the Boys (1991) .... Bette got another nomination for playing Dixie Leonard, but Martha Raye claimed it was a rip off of her life story, and threatened to sue.
The Birdcage (1996) .... Nathan Lane was a scream as Albert Goldman
To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar (1995) .... Stockard Channing was Carol Ann
Six Degrees of Separation (1993) .... Oscar nomination for Stockard's portrayal of Louisa ('Ouisa') Kittredge
Nixon - Collector's Edition (1995) .... David Hyde Pierce was John Dean
JFK - Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition) (1991) .... Jerry Johnson was played by John Larroquette (credited on Director's Cut)
Richie Rich (1994) .... John Larroquette portrayed Lawrence Van Dough
Charlie's Angels - Full Throttle (Widescreen Unrated Special Edition) (2003) .... Cleese was Mr. Munday
A Fish Called Wanda (1988) .... John Cleese played Archie Leach, and also got an Oscar nomination for the script.
Description of Isn't She Great
ISN'T SHE GREAT - DVD MovieMost people probably approached Isn't She Great looking for a screaming camp-fest, only to discover a surprisingly sincere love letter to trash-novelist Jacqueline Susann, author of Valley of the Dolls and Once Is Not Enough. Bette Midler plays the brash, self-obsessed Susann, who started as a struggling actress yearning for fame and not too picky about what she was famous for. Fortunately, she catches the eye of personal manager Irving Mansfield (Nathan Lane), who seems to have no particular skills either but who is so passionately devoted to his client that he marries her. It's Irving who first suggests that Susann write a book about the sordid lives of celebrities and beautiful people, and Irving who pushes the book to publisher after publisher with dogged devotion. The movie lurches a bit in Susann's early life--it wants to approach the difficulties of Susann's life (an autistic son, breast cancer) with a mixture of sentimentality and irreverence, which doesn't always mesh--but once Valley of the Dolls finds a publisher, the movie finds its legs. The ever-dependable David Hyde Pierce plays the uptight WASP assigned to edit Susann's manuscript, and much mileage is gotten out of the conflict between Pierce's blue-blood manner and Midler's broad Jewish glitz. John Cleese and Stockard Channing also provide able support. Paul Rudnick's script shows a genuine affection for its heroine; Rudnick also wrote the screenplays for Addams Family Values and In and Out. --Bret Fetzer
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