The First Wives Club

The First Wives Club
September 20, 1996
Paramount
Comedy
VHS
C+

I really liked this movie at the time, as did many others, including Katha Pollitt, but that doesn't mean we were blind to its faults, faults that are more obvious a couple decades later.  As directed by WKRP's Hugh Wilson, it is very much a cinematic sitcom, with easy resolutions and cardboard characterizations.  Although it's based on a book (which I've never read), the most serious flaws have to do with the writing, many of the implausibilities and inconsistencies centering around Brenda (Bette Midler).  To begin with, is she Italian or Jewish?  If both, why isn't this established earlier?  And how is ir that her husband (Dan Hedaya, for a change in my movies actually typecast) fails to recognize her boss, even the name?  Also, the whole timeline is screwy, from Yellow Submarine coming out in '69 (rather than '68), to the central trio of first wives (Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton) all about 45, although this seems to be contemporary and they've been out of college for about 27 years.  I'm not even clear how much time is passing in the main story, although there's a vague time pressure (even vaguer than in Don't Tell Mom).  Maybe this is all clearer in the book.

The movie is of course notable for its presentation of the exes, particularly the ex of their suicidal friend Cynthia, as being shallow, insensitive, and ruled by their lust for younger women.  (Sarah Jessica Parker is playing against type as a dumb and tasteless blonde.)  But the wives don't come across as much better and, as in The Women almost 60 years earlier, it's unclear why they regret the loss of such awful men.  Yes, I like seeing the cast, and the theme of female friendship and empowerment is good, but it's often lost in slapstick and stereotyping.  And this isn't 9 to 5, where the stock characters are given believability.  There are nice little moments (like how accepting Keaton is of her lesbian daughter), and even occasional insights about how aging women are viewed, and Maggie Smith proves she can do a lot even with a tiny role, but it just doesn't add up to much.

I don't have any other movies with James Naughton but it's a nice touch to make him Cynthia's cheating ex-husband, since he was Angela Bower's ex on Who's the Boss?  (Cynthia is played by Stockard Channing.)  Victor Garber, who plays Goldie's ex, would be Professor Callahan in Legally Blonde.

Anne Shropshire, who's an A Certain Age cast member, was Mrs. Crawley in Tootsie.  Peter Frechette, who plays the Broadway Director, had his big-screen debut as none other than Louis DiMucci in Grease 2.  (He found a lot of other work in between of course.)  Aida Linares also played a maid in Clueless.

Marla Sucharetza, who's Exercising Woman, would be School Reporter in In & Out, while Debra Monk is Jilted Lover here and would be Mrs. Lester there, and  J. Smith-Cameron is Miss Sullivan here and would be Trina Paxton there.  Rob Reiner plays Hawn's plastic surgeon.  And, yes, that's 41-year-old J.K. Simmons in the small role of a Federal Marshall.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Girls Just Want to Have Fun
April 12, 1985
New World
Musical, Romance, Comedy
DVD
C+

At 17, I was a shade too old for this movie, which apparently didn't do well at the box office without my help.  (I got it for like a $1 a couple years ago.)  GJWHF probably is of more interest now than at the time, and that's not saying much.  It has only thematic connection with the Cyndi Lauper song, which is covered by someone more obscure.  (Lauper allegedly appears as Woman in Diner though.)  The main plot elements of a teenage girl getting on a dance show, with the help of her loyal best friend, while falling in love with a cute boy she dances with, would be done much better in Hairspray three years later.  (And Hairspray would manage a lot more of course.)  Lee Montgomery isn't a particularly likable or compelling love interest, although he does have more charisma than Gil Petersen in The Cool Ones.  The film doesn't have the charming absurdity of a '60s teen movie, although there are certainly plot-holes and unexplained character motivation, notably in the debutante ball crashed by punkers, New-Wavers, female body-builders, and others with no better way to spend a Saturday night.

This movie is better than Thank God It's Friday, for what it's worth.  It's more focused and we actually see more of the dancing.  My marginal recommendation though is for the early glimpses of 21-year-old Helen Hunt, 20-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker, 18-year-old Jonathan Silverman, and 14-year-old Shannen Doherty.  Hunt, often with fake creatures on her head, steals every scene she's in, although the other "girls" are watchable enough.  Silverman's character is obnoxious but he tries hard in his first big-screen role.  (The gals were already TV vets by '85.)

As for the rest of the cast, real life d.j./v.j. Richard Blade plays the host of Dance TV.  Twenty-year-old Robert Downey, Jr., whom if I recall correctly was dating Parker at the time, apparently was uncredited as a Punk Party Crasher.  Extra Helen Kelly, who's Woman at the Park here, had previously appeared in Spinal Tap and Johnny Dangerously and would go on to Hamburger: The Motion Picture.  Of the nameless dancers, Karen and Sharon Owens would dance in Earth Girls Are Easy, while Tita Omeze would be Tanya in that movie.

"Dude, don't touch my hair!"