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

♥♥

 

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? 

In & Out (1997) or, Come Out and Dance

♥♥♥♥

 

Star Kevin Kline strikes a pumped up, awkward pose on this bright poster for Frank Oz's In & Out

Brackett is a popular high school teacher, who is about to get married, when an old student outs him in his Oscar winner's speech. But this is all just a misunderstanding ... - Or is it?

 

In & Out is written by Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey (1995)) and directed by English-born American master filmmaker Frank Oz (The Dark Crystal (1982)), whose 8th feature it is.

Kevin Kline (Dean (2016)) is in top comedic shape and gets good support here from Joan Cusack (Snatched (2017)), Tom Selleck (Boston Legal (2006, TV-series)) and Debbie Reynolds (Bundle of Joy (1956)). The fun includes a risible disco self-help tape scene.

In & Out is a bubbly, enthused attack on prejudices against gays, such as the commonest one: that homosexuality is infectious. SPOILER The graduation scene, in which everyone 'is gay' is not very good. But the following mass dance scene is fine. 

In & Out makes you happy.

 

Related posts:

Frank Oz:  Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) - Despite stale romance and Anakin, Episode II excites (voice actor)
1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Bowfinger (1999) or, Making Chubby Rain 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 35 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 63.8 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain but likely a box office success (projected return of 2.57 times its cost)

[In & Out premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 92 minutes. The script was inspired by Tom Hanks' tearful speech at his Oscar win for Philadelphia in 1994, in which he identified and named his high school drama teacher and a former classmate as gay. Shooting took place from February 1997 - ? in New York and New Jersey. The film opened #1 to a 15 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained in the top 5 for another 4 weekends (#2-#4-#4-#5) and grossed 63.8 mil. $. The foreign gross numbers are regrettably not public information. The film sold 64,581 tickets in Denmark, approximately 610k $, not a bad figure in a small market. This may indicate that the film had decent sales abroad as well, and a 100 mil. $ final gross is not impossible, although it seems curious that studios at the time did not release information about such good sales. My projected final gross is a more conservative 90 mil. $. The film was nominated for 1 Oscar, Best Supporting Actress (Cusack), lost to Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Oz returned with Bowfinger (1999). Kline returned in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999). In & Out is fresh at 73 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of In & Out? 

Marci X (2003) - Benjamin slips with awfully scripted class comedy

♥

 

+ Career-Killer of the Year: Richard Benjamin 

 

The star duo attempt to lock your interest down on this poster for Richard Benjamin's Marci X

 

A white, Jewish socialite's father incurs serious health problems, as a hiphop act causes a crisis for his record company, so said daughter Marci rolls in to handle the situation.

 

Marci X si written by Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey (1995)) and directed by Richard Benjamin (My Favorite Year (1982)).

Opposites meet in this hard-to-categorize film, which angered many somewhat overly serious critics back in the day, probably because it dares to both lampoon overclass whites and black working class culture (namely hiphop). It does so in a childish manner, which feels as if the script must have been written in 1990.

Lisa Kudrow (The Other Woman (2009)) is fun nonetheless, and the same goes for Jane Krakowski (Open Season (2006)) and Christine Baranski (Happy Family (2003-04)) in particular here as a right-wing virago judge. Damon Wayans (Goosed (1999)) is less fun, but he is embarrassing from time to time in Marci X.

The film in general is a bit embarrassing; the plot is completely grotesque, its structure totally checked out. What on earth were they thinking, one wonders often during Marci X, and where does this idea come from? It fully ignores good taste and common practice, doing so with an at time Mel Brooksian comedic enthusiasm. Marci X is a pretty funny really bad movie.

 

Related posts:

 

Richard Benjamin: 2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair

 

Watch a short clip from the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $

Box office: 1.6 mil. $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.08 times its cost)

[Marci X was released 22 August (USA) and runs 84 minutes. Shooting took place in New York. The film opened #17 to a 872k $ first weekend in 1,200 theaters in North America, where it only decreased from there, grossing 98.4 % of the film's listed gross at Box Office Mojo, with the remainder coming from 26k $ made in South Africa. Benjamin has directed two TV movies since, but never again a theatrical feature. Kudrow returned in Wonderland (2003); Wayans in Luther Vandross: Dance with My Father (2003, music video), My Wife and Kids (2001-05) and theatrically in Behind the Smile (2006). Marci X is rotten at 8 % with a 3.48/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Marci X?