Death Becomes Her

I never saw "Death Becomes Her" when it first come out because of a review I had read somewhere. The review was dismissive and made a lot of sense, so I decided to give it a miss. What a terrible mistake! This is a movie I would love to see on a big screen. The script is so brilliantly clever. Disguised as a silly comedy there is a world of serious themes executed by a knowing cast. Meryl Streep in particular, playing convincingly an actress without talent. I remember the bad review criticized the writers for setting the story in a rainy, stormy Los Angeles when California was going through a drought. Imagine if a comedy about magic potions should worry about the accuracy of the weather. In fact the Los Angeles of "Death Becomes Her" feels more like Los Angelers than most realistic movies and it does it with nerve and wit. "In 12 years in Los Angeles have you ever seen a neighbor?" screams Meryl to his mousy Bruce. An absolute delight. Other hidden treasures are a cameo from Sidney Pollack and a very funny and very sexy "76 years old" Isabella Rossellini. A new cult classic and a total must.

Ok, call me crazy but wasn't this the first film that anyone had ever seen Bruce Willis play a character that didn't involve him blasting bad guys into the air with a machine gun? Don't get me wrong, I loved "Die Hard" and am a big fan of Bruce but it was just so refreshing to see him play a character that was so different to his previous (and, indeed, later) roles. His performance of the downtrodden, weedy "Ernest" is masterful as he strikes a perfect balance between the comedy and darkness of the film. If you like black comedies (like me), you'll love this! Whoever thought of casting such a genius combination of these three great actors in this film should be applauded. Hawn and Streep are excellently cast as the two feisty women competing over Ernest, desperately hanging on to their long-gone youth and stopping at NOTHING to get what they want - the bitch fight between the two gals is a scene NOT to be missed!

All in all, "Death Becomes Her" is a deliciously dark comedy with a brilliant cast, great direction and some pretty convincing special effects - considering it was made way back in 1992!

There is so much greatness in this unexpected Hollywood comedy that the cheap shots are really cheap and, quite frankly, unbearable. Buried somewhere between the special effects (extraordinary by the way) is one the wittiest satires to come out of Hollywood in many, many moons. Meryl Streep is sensational and Bruce Willis is, I swear, unrecognizable in the best possible way. The movie hits the highest moments when, for instance, Meryl asks Isabella Rossellini how much the magic potion costs and Isabella replays: "Oh the sordid topic of coin" sublime, exquisite, funny but with enormous regard for its audience. But when Bruce calls Goldie Hawn to explain the "incident" at home he goes through a TV style monologue that seems to belong to a sit-com and not to the elegant vulgarity of this three sad, magnificent wannabees. The dialog, for the most part, is the best in any American serious comedy since Billy Wilder. The structure of the script is flawless and inventive. The costumes are atrocious and certain scenes seem directed by a 3rd assistant. I don't know how to explain it. However, I have it, I own it and sometimes I put it on with my finger in the fast forward. What's good is so good that makes the whole thing really worth it.

When a woman learns of an immortality treatment, she sees it as a way to outdo her long-time rival.

This film was intended to be a sequel to the "Tales From the Script" television show, and although the TFTC name is not attached, you still get a strong sense of the humor we have come to expect. David Koepp and Martin Donovan (who last worked together on "Apartment Zero") had intended to write a few short films, like an anthology, but this story just grew... and Robert Zemeckis added his own brand of humor, with the dark side of Hollywood bubbling to the surface.

Along with Zemeckis comes some of his associates. That includes Dean Cundey, the cinematographer who started on low budget horror, then made John Carpenter's work look great, before moving on to the high-profile films of Zemeckis. And also producer Steve Starkey, who came up from the "Star Wars" films. Zemeckis is sort of the lesser-celebrated member of a triumvirate with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, but perhaps he should in many ways be more celebrated... his range and aesthetic are impressive.

There is no denying Robert Zemeckis is really a master of genre. He takes what could be a niche and makes it mainstream. "Back to the Future" is loved by all, not just science fiction nerds. And "Death Becomes Her" could have been horror, but with Zemeckis at the helm it was more mainstream, and is now classified as "fantasy / comedy" -- not even horror at all, despite the themes!

Although Meryl Streep was great (as always), she has said that it "was like being at the dentist" having to work in such a way to accommodate the special effects. She vowed never to work in such a film again, and for the most part I think she has stayed true to this vow. Which brings up an interesting divide between the actors of Streep's level (constant Oscar nominees) and those who appear in genre films again and again. Maybe Oscar acting is not better, but merely employs a different skill set?

Speaking of Oscars, "Death Becomes Her" won the Academy Award for Visual Effects. That is so well-deserved. Anyone who watches this film should be impressed by what they were able to do. Why is it that today (2016) we spend millions of dollars to make things look like animation, but already in 1992 they had perfected a way of making it look like heads were falling off and holes were being blown through people? We are regressing!

Scream Factory comes through with a Collector's Edition blu-ray. Although the features on the disc are a bit scant for a collector's edition, they were able to put together a series of interviews to make a retrospective. Streep and Goldie Hawn did not participate (not surprisingly), but Zemeckis did, which is really quite a coup. And David Koepp! And legendary cinematographer Dean Cundey, who had come with Zemeckis from "Back to Future"! Fans of the film who want to know a bit more about what went into this picture are strongly encouraged to pick it up.

I mean, I doubted this movie at first from the beginning in Broadway. But as it progressed, I was laughing so hard on certain scenes like when Dr. Menville is reporting the murder of Madelyn and she suddenly gets up and starts walking toward him. It was too funny and the effects were so phenomenal. I mean literally. But then again, it won an Oscar for its effects. I mean, the fight scene where the 2 start fighting with shovels and Helen breaks off the metal end of Mad's and she throws it right through her. "Yes! I mean No! Oh Damn!" That scene was just side-splitting. Overall it was a good black comedy and I'd recommend it to anybody. And Robert Zemeckis, I never knew he did such a great movie because he's a head producer for Dark Castle Entertainment and he's done some pretty bad movies from there like Ghost Ship and Thir13en Ghosts. But wow, he has really made an excellent movie.