Isn't She Great (2000) - Bergman's career-ending writer biopic

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Lush pink and the adored stars are the selling points on this bright poster for Andrew Bergman's Isn't She Great

Jacqueline Susann has a humble dream of becoming rich and famous, and when she meets the agent Irving Mansfield they prove a magical match, since he believes just as much in her, - or more, in fact!, - than she does herself.

 

Isn't She Great is written by Paul Rudnick (Sister Act (1992)), based on the 1995 New Yorker profile Wasn't She Great of super-selling author Jacqueline Susann by Michael Korda (Another Life (1999)), and directed by Andrew Bergman (So Fine (1981)).

Bette Midler (Divine Madness (1980)) and Nathan Lane (Modern Family (2010-19)) are top stars and both quite funny here, - especially Lane, - although the story comes off as a bit implausible, including that Midler's sexually oriented Jacqueline here should marry the not exactly arousing Lane...

Another thing to wonder about in Isn't She Great is the couple's economy together, which seems enormous right from the get-go: In New York, no less, although both of them are rarely working and professionally failed at the outset. Isn't She Great is a film for fans of its two stars most of all.

 

Related post:

 

Andrew Bergman: Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) - Stars flare up in breezy romcom (writer/director)

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 36-44 mil. $ (different accounts)

Box office: 3 mil. $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.07 times its cost)

[Isn't She Great was released 28 January (USA) and runs 95 minutes. Shooting took place from January - April 1999 in Quebec and New York. The film opened #17 to a 1.3 mil. $ first weekend in 750 theaters in North America, its peak there, where it grossed 2.9 mil. $ (96.7 % of the total gross). It was released in 6 other markets but has only registered an unspecified 40k $ foreign gross at Box Office Mojo. Roger Ebert gave it a 1/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Bergman was never hired as director again but did return with a couple of more credits as a writer. Midler returned with a cameo in What Women Want (2000), in Bette (2000-01) and in an actual role in The Stepford Wives (2004); Lane in Love's Labour's Lost (2000). Isn't She Great is rotten at 24 % with a 4.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Isn't She Great? 

At First Sight (1999) - Kilmer goes blind in Winkler's awful turkey

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+ Worst Movie of the Year

 

 

The two stars walk around in an out-of-focus New York looking snug on this poster for Irwin Winkler's At First Sight

A blind masseuse massages a woman so deeply that she cries (...), and the two fall in love. She locates the doctor who can operate his sight back, - but it is more important to see with the heart.

 

- In other words, back to being blind. At First Sight is written by Steve Levitt, based on the essay To See and Not See from An Anthropologist on Mars (1995) by Oliver Sacks (Migraine (1970)), in turn based on the true story of Shirl Jennings, and directed by Irwin Winkler (Guilty by Suspicion (1991)).

Nothing works in this lame, intolerable melodrama flunk, which unintentionally inspires roaring laughter a couple of times. The plot nearly feels like the film is a spoof on itself. Canadian jazz singer Diane Krall plays in a scene, and her music is used effectively to make some of the hairy meatball of a film go down a little more smoothly.

Val Kilmer (Gun (2010)) is ridiculous as the blind masseuse; Mira Sorvino (WiseGirls (2002)) is tiring. At First Sight manages to make Nathan Lane (Find Out Why (2000, TV-series)) dull. This is an epic turkey.

 

Related post:

 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 60 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 22.3 mil. $ (North America only)

= Mega-flop (returned 0.37 times its cost in North America)

[At First Sight premiered 12 January (USA) and runs 128 minutes. Kilmer was paid 9 mil. $ for his performance; Sorvino 3 mil. $. Shooting took place from January - April 1998 in New York. The wildly over-budgeted film opened #5, behind Varsity Blues, Patch Adams, A Civil Action and The Thin Red Line, to an 8.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 22.3 mil. $. The international gross numbers are regrettably unreported but almost certainly were unimpressive. If the final gross landed on a likely 30 mil. $, the return would be 0.5 times the cost, and the rank on the cusp of 'merely' huge flop. More than 24.4 mil. $ was reportedly spent additionally to market the film. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Winkler returned with Life As a House (2001). Kilmer returned in Joe the King (1999); Sorvino in Summer of Sam (1999). At First Sight is rotten at 32 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of At First Sight?

30 Rock - season 1 (2006) - NY showbiz satire on speed

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+ Best New TV-series of the Year + Best Sitcom of the Year

A nice promotion photo with the main stars of Tina Fey's 30 Rock

The New York address 30 Rockefeller holds the stage for NBC's comedy hit, the best Manhattan show since Sex and the City, Tina Fey's (Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt (2015-16)) 30 Rock.  

The entry point is the hiring of the new channel boss, Jack Donaghy, who has great experience from micro-oven-programming and thinks in dynamic corporate terms and buzz words. Another challenge for the lead in the show, sketch show writer Liz Lemon, is his demand to incorporate the popular but very difficult African-American comedian Tracy Jordan into her live comedy show as its main act. 

The meta/alter ego of Liz Lemon and comedian persona Fey, (who has based the character and plot on herself and her own experiences as the head writer for Saturday Night Life from 1997-06), the self criticisms and irony is thick in 30 Rock, (and you will benefit as a viewer from knowing a bit about the lead actors.) It's funny and often sharp and fresh, and it has the feel of a modern, frantic backstage musical, (though it is mostly without the music.)
Lemon's love life, or lack of one, also takes up a big chunk of the show; her relationship to 'beeper-king' Dennis, an inevitable flirt with boss Donaghy, and the flower-man, Floyd (Jason Sudeikis (We're the Millers (2013))). Donaghy, on the other hand, dates Condoleezza Rice (off-screen), gets engaged to Phoebe (Emily Mortimer (City Island (2009))), and has an ex in Isabella Rosselini (Blue Velvet (1986)). The show is also filled with surprising celebrity appearances from the likes of Ghostface Killah (When in Rome (2010)), John McEnroe (Jack & Jill (2011)), Whoopi Goldberg (The Associate (1996)), Rip Torn (Men in Black (1997)), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea (1999)), Will Arnett (The Lego Movie (2014)) and Sean Hayes (Sean Saves the World (2013-14)).
Alec Baldwin (The Departed (2006)) has, in my opinion, the funniest character as Jack Donaghy as well as the funniest lines, as when he shouts at wig-wearing show writer Pete (Scott Adsit (Fan Girl (2015))); "Who is this leader of men? - You handsome man!" Baldwin's dead-pan chops and comedic and acting width is utilized perfectly in his larger-than-life Donaghy character.
Generally the episodes that are written by Fey are the funniest. The liberal New York sassiness and enduring focus on race can be tiring, and it's not without its hypocritical aftertaste sometimes. Sometimes punch-lines fall totally through.
The Southern character Kenneth (Jack McBrayer (Cooties (2014))) is for me over-wrought and unfunny throughout. Fey, Tracy Morgan (Cop Out (2010)) and Jane Krakowski (Ally McBeal (1997-02)), on the other hand, are as most of the show very amusing.
30 Rock is a very funny sitcom with a crazed, new millennium-type pace.

Best episode:

17 : The Fighting Irish: written by Fey and Jack Burditt (The Mindy Project (2013-15)); directed by Dennie Gordon (White Collar (2009-11))

Donaghy's Irish ancestry is explored. With Nathan Lane (The Birdcage (1996)).

Related posts:

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

Watch a clip from the season here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV
= Unknown
[30 Rock S1 was first broadcast October 11 2006 - April 26 2007, and it spans 21 episodes, with 19 being 22 min. long and 2 being 26 min, coming to around 470 minutes total. Fey pitched the show in 2002 at NBC, but it took her a few years and a pregnancy before it was really in the making. Filming took place around in New York. The pilot premiered to 8.1 mil. viewers, which shrunk to 4.7 mil. by the finale, the season averaging 5.8 mil., which was considered to be not too strong, although it was likely a profitable production behind NBC's heavy curtains. The season was critically well-received, with a Metacritic score of 67 %. The season was nominated for 10 Emmys, one Golden Globe, which Baldwin won, and 6 Primetime Emmys, winning 2: For Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Elaine Stritch (Small Time Crooks (2000))). Fey continued to write for SNL and also did cameos in Beer League and Man of the Year in 2006; Baldwin was busy in 2006, also starring in Mini's First Time, The Departed, Running with Scissors and The Good Shepherd; Morgan starred in Littleman, Mind of Mencia (TV-series), Where My Dogs At? (TV-series) and Totally Awesome (TV movie). 30 Rock S1 is fresh at 71 % with a 7.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What other showbiz satires are lots of laughs?
What do you think of 30 Rock's first season?