I had seen (and subsequently forgotten about) this movie back in the 90s. When you read the list of names in this movie, it seems like it would be great, but somehow it landed flat and flavorless. It was like someone took a chick-flick formula and forced the actors into generic roles that they all were way better than. Elizabeth Perkins is a great and underrated actress, but she's normally second fiddle in the movies she's in. She's not a movie star and although she could and did carry the lead, she's not quite built for that. Whoopie Goldberg was miscast in this, she seemed out of place as the quirky best-friend as that she and Elizabeth Perkins had no chemistry, or at least no chemistry translated on the screen. Kathleen Turner was a heavy hitter in Hollywood in the 80s and this movie seemed to be a huge step-down for her. I didn't understand her character at all as that she was the ex step-mother, it made no sense that the Character was there at all. And Gwyneth Paltrow....(shaking my head). She pouted, whined, had body-dysmorphic disorder, which is never fully explained and although was in college, acted like a bratty tween. I hated her character; it's underdeveloped and what should have been funny and quirky translated to bratty and irritating.
The movie is supposed to deal with grief a la Steel Magnolias, there is even a Sally Field-esque emotional rant by Elizabeth Perkins that didn't land right. She missed the mark on it somehow, or, the towering Mrs. Fields just did is so iconicly that anyone else would seem like a pale imitation, which it did.
The writing is off, not funny and the Whoopi Goldberg Character just seems odd and out of place and the whole movie could have done without her. A slight change in the cast may have made this movie slightly better and able to overcome the shallow writing. This movie had Pete Coyote in it, as Whoopi's character's husband and he isn't even really credited, maybe he clued in that that this was a formulaic, steel magnolia's' knock off and chose to have his participation muted. John Bon Jovi couldn't bring this up out of the depths of meh. And there was NO chemistry between him and Elizabeth Perkins.
I've pretty much given you the whole movie and if you've read this, which doesn't really have any spoilers in it, I've still managed to spoil it. Watch it if you're bored and have nothing else to do on a weeknight in PJs.
The movie is supposed to deal with grief a la Steel Magnolias, there is even a Sally Field-esque emotional rant by Elizabeth Perkins that didn't land right. She missed the mark on it somehow, or, the towering Mrs. Fields just did is so iconicly that anyone else would seem like a pale imitation, which it did.
The writing is off, not funny and the Whoopi Goldberg Character just seems odd and out of place and the whole movie could have done without her. A slight change in the cast may have made this movie slightly better and able to overcome the shallow writing. This movie had Pete Coyote in it, as Whoopi's character's husband and he isn't even really credited, maybe he clued in that that this was a formulaic, steel magnolia's' knock off and chose to have his participation muted. John Bon Jovi couldn't bring this up out of the depths of meh. And there was NO chemistry between him and Elizabeth Perkins.
I've pretty much given you the whole movie and if you've read this, which doesn't really have any spoilers in it, I've still managed to spoil it. Watch it if you're bored and have nothing else to do on a weeknight in PJs.