Outrageous Fortune (1987)

(In French, On Cable TV, October 2020) Whenever Bette Midler is on-screen, it shouldn’t be surprising if the result is loud messy comedy. The premise of Outrageous Fortune is simple enough to qualify as high-concept: When two women with opposite personalities discover that they’re dating the same man and he disappears, they go chasing after him and discover that he’s a spy. Cue the arguments, the chase sequences, the cross-country scenes and the shifts from comedy to thriller to action and back. It’s all handled with a veteran’s professionalism (but not energy) by director Arthur Hiller. The highlight here is clearly Midler with a typically brassy, brash performance that clearly outshines that of co-star Shelley Long who must settle for being the straight woman of the comedy duo. In many ways, Outrageous Fortune is a disappointment—it’s overly familiar in places, and not audacious enough in others: the ending is a bit of a deflating balloon, and the supporting stereotypes it perpetuates have not aged well. But there’s Midler, always Midler—it may not be worth re-watching, but she’s worth watching at least once.