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Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Gideon24 Some delicious, over-the-top scenery chewing by the divine Meryl Streep is the primary reason to check out a bizarre black comedy from 1989 called She-Devil.The film stars Roseanne Barr as Ruth, a frumpy and insecure housewife and mother who is crushed to learn that her accountant/husband, Bob (Ed Begley Jr.) has begun to have an affair with a glamorous romance novelist named Mary Fisher (Streep). When Bob finally decides to leave Ruth, she then sets out on an elaborate plan to exact revenge on her scummy husband, beginning with burning their home to the ground and sending her children to live with Bob and Mary.This film was made during Roseanne's hiatus from the first season of her classic sitcom and was intended to make a movie star out of her, but failed dismally, primarily due to the fact that the character Roseanne plays here is not as smart or appealing as Roseanne Conner and it's hard to get behind a lot of Ruth's actions in this movie. It's a little hard to believe that a wronged wife would actually destroy her children's home merely as a way of getting back at her husband, which is also hard to buy because the character of Bob is really a jerk and why Ruth cares about his feelings or why Mary finds herself attracted to him are a mystery as well, which for me was the primary problem with this story...the character of Bob was just not worth these two women fighting over.Director Susan Seidleman, who scored a bullseye five years earlier with Desperately Seeking Susan really misses here, but she is hampered by a screenplay that is kind of all over the place and some really unlikable characters, especially Barr's Ruth, who is supposed to evoke sympathy from the viewer, but does just the opposite.What this film does have going for it is a perfectly executed comedy turn from the fabulous Meryl Streep, who manages to mine every bit of humor out of her character that the screenplay provides. As for the rest of the cast, Ed Begley Jr. is miscast as Bob and some minor laughs are provided along the way by Sylvia Miles as Mary's mother, who loves to tell anyone who will listen what a loser her daughter is and A Martinez as Mary's manservant/boy toy, but this is Streep's show all the way and without her, this film would be impossible to get through.

ConDeuce The movie version of Fay Wheldon's novel "The Life and Loves of a She- Devil" for the most part misses its marks. You would think a movie with this cast and great source material would be a lot better than it is but it's not. Though a film's failure cannot be blamed on just one thing, for this film, the lion's share belongs to the director, Susan Seidelman. Her direction is flat and unimaginative. She shot "She Devil" like it was a TV movie. It certainly looks like it. There's no spark or liveliness to it. It's point and shoot direction. This is acceptable when the actors and the material are solid but here they are not. As good as Roseanne Barr (or Arnold or whatever last name she was or wasn't using at the time) was on her TV show, here she's as flat as Seidelman's direction and since she's the center of the film, it nearly kills it. I think our sympathies were supposed to rest firmly with Roseanne's character Ruth but since she is presented so negatively, we cannot understand why her husband (or anyone) would have been attracted to her in the first place. She comes across as gross and incompetent. There's nothing at stake when she seeks revenge on Bob for leaving her because neither character feels worth the time.The whole movie would have been forgotten if it had not been for one thing: the unbelievable, incredible, tour-de-force comic performance of Meryl Streep. Every single scene she is in is a comic whopper. When she is on screen, the whole movie suddenly jolts to life. Streep's acting skills often rely on capturing the smallest of nuances and in "She Devil" she nails them perfectly. Her Mary Fisher is a woman addicted to the impossible dream of perfect romance. Every word out of her mouth is whispery affirmation of it. She is so good that we end up rooting for her and worse, feeling sorry for her. Streep's best scene (and they are all good) comes about midway when Bob (now cheating on her) comes home late. Streep, on all fours, wags her fanny as she exclaims she's an artist. Brilliant.

thesar-2 Believe it: She-Devil was my first introduction to…Meryl Streep. And say what you will about this movie, I really liked her in this.She isn't just an artist. She is thee artist in Hollywood. From this viewing or many, MANY, more when I was a child, she appears to have taken this role very seriously. Much like when I watched Megan Mullally perform live as Karen Walker at a taping of Will & Grace. Both Karen, and Streep's Mary Fisher are silly roles, and yet they're treated professionally.I appreciate that. And the movie.Now, far from perfect – and I'm not even speaking of the terrible FX (SEE: the house blow up and how Roseanne Barr is nowhere near that,) it's a fun watch. It's fun that Barr's Ruth is not Barr's normal role, like in her – at the time, future – role on her hit TV show. I liked how she had a plan of revenge, or more accurately justice, and didn't have to stoop to lowbrow "humor" as Melissa McCarthy has to do today. In fact, I would back this Ruth over any of McCarthy's ladies I've seen on screen.I digress. Housewife Ruth's husband cheats on her with famed romance novelist, Mary and she devotes her time to tearing down the things that he states mean the most to him.That's it, for the premise, at least. There are a lot of funny moments, good secondary characters, and Maria Pitillo, who I recently reviewed in 1998's Godzilla, and oddly dropped off the Hollywood map 5 years ago. Anyways, I liked how it wasn't straight forward for Ruth. She grew as a person and had to continually improvise and adapt for her plan to work.And Streep's Mary, was a fun watch, especially when you can see she's not the dumb blonde she mostly portrays. Note: the glasses push-up.Sure, it's predictable and some scenes are pretty far-fetched, but it was fun when I was growing up with this as it is today. I liked the soundtrack, some of the lines and the relationships Ruth makes during her journey. And I definitely understand more of what they were saying now, than I did as a kid. Totally recommended.

Rosemary (zelda1964) Rosanne Barr and Meryl Streep are witty,funny,and shine in this tickler. Streep is great in such movies as Kramer vs Kramer,a heart tugging movie.Barr is spunky,and I loved her in her self-titled sitcom Roseanne. Here,the two ladies play rivals for the affections of a somewhat selfish,arrogant womanizer.Bob Patchett(Begley),has a roving eye.When his wife takes notice,she devises a plan to destroy him.Bob first gets cozy with Mary Fisher(Streep),a romance author.Mary has no morals, and woos him away from his family.When she becomes his wife,he starts getting "friendlier" with Olivia,who is not such a "honey",her real last name.I love Linda Hunt, who plays Hooper,a registered nurse.Ruth makes it harder for Fisher to stay away from her mother.She devises a way to take Mrs. Fisher(nursing home resident),and keep her as a permanent fixture in the household.One may feel sorry for Andy and Nicolette,the children Ruth feels for.I love the ending,however,where the son and daughter turn out to be well-adjusted.Bravo, to Streep and Barr for this gag a minute riot.I love it!