Shelley Long

  • Outrageous Fortune (1987)

    Outrageous Fortune (1987)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (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.

  • The Money Pit (1986)

    The Money Pit (1986)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On DVD, September 2020) I remember seeing bits and pieces of The Money Pit as a kid, but seeing it now from beginning to end as a middle-aged man who has owned three houses and paid for two major renovation efforts is the kind of different perspective that I couldn’t have imagined back then. Very reminiscent of Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House, this is a comedy from Tom Hank’s younger, sillier period—Here he plays a young entertainment lawyer who must buy a house quickly to avoid homelessness and soon discovers that a slab-to-ceiling renovation is required. Beyond the wacky situations, funny dialogue and oversized characters, The Money Pit is comically distinctive in that it has many set-pieces of elaborate physical comedy as the house falls apart on its new owners, or the renovation crew comes knocking holes in the walls. Hanks is his usual comic 1980s self here, although Shelley Long gets more and more interesting as the film advances and has her become a foil for Hanks’ character’s increasingly maniacal portrayal. It’s quite a bit of fun, although my approval is somewhat tempered by having seen Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House not too long ago: The original film has a better portrayal of the universal process of buying and (re)building a house, far better dialogue and Cary Grant as a bonus. This one often skips over material that could have been interesting, stops caring about the money issue midway through, and goes too often for slapstick when it could have used a more dialogue-heavy approach. It’s still funny enough to warrant a look, although new homeowners may want to pay down a chunk of their line of credit before being retraumatized by the material here.

  • Suburban Commando (1991)

    Suburban Commando (1991)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, May 2019) The problem with star vehicles is that they make sense when the star is a star that people want to watch, but not so much once everybody wonders what the fuss was about. Made near the peak of Hulk Hogan’s fame, Suburban Commando is a pure vehicle that seems to revolve around a single gag: A super-strong extraterrestrial having trouble coping with the peculiar customs of American suburbia. Washi, rinse, repeat: It’s not very different from that other star vehicle Hercules in New York, which is somewhat ironic considering that this film was originally also intended for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Considering that Hulk Hogan was almost a comic character himself, the film logically lends itself to much comic violence. The script is meant to be a buddy-comedy kind of thing with a meek earthling learning how to be courageous from the fearless alien, so it’s Christopher Lloyd who gets the ingrate role of assuming the film’s character development quota. Meanwhile, Shelley Long doesn’t have much to do, although she does have a fun scene with a curly wig. Still, much of the film writes itself with few surprises along the way. You can watch the trailer and have a near-exact idea of Suburban Commando’s tone, plot and best jokes.

  • Troop Beverly Hills (1989)

    Troop Beverly Hills (1989)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, May 2019) Let’s face it: I would probably have hated Troop Beverly Hills had I seen it any time before my forties. It’s not a terrible film, but it’s clearly aimed at younger girls and I didn’t have the empathy to see that until a bit later in life. The premise isn’t complicated, with a ditzy Beverly Hills socialite taking responsibility for her daughter’s Girls Scout (oops: “Wilderness Girls”) troupe and combining that work with her other overriding passions. The plotting is strictly kids-grade material, with an outlook that celebrates the simple-mindedness of its adult heroine. But once you understand who it’s aimed for, the film does become quite charming. Much of that credit goes to curly red-haired Shelley Long, who turns in a terrific performance as a shallow but likable socialite trying to get over her ongoing divorce by taking care of a few girls—and put the harsher-than-thou matrons in their place. It’s certainly not great art, but the now-quaint late-1980s fashion makes Troop Beverly Hills, with the added attraction of a few celebrity cameos and early performances by Carla Gugino and Tori Spelling. Amusingly, I see that the film has appreciated with time—the right expectations (this being a wish fulfillment or rather wish-empowerment fantasy rather than a satire of the rich and famous) helping to correctly frame its reception.