leeper@mtgzx.att.com (Mark R. Leeper) (09/25/90)
POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Petulant, semi-autobiographical comedy
written by Carrie Fisher about her relationship with her
mother and the world in general. There are a couple of nice
dramatic scenes but not enough to salvage this self-pitying
story. Rating: high 0.
Life can be tough. It really is not very easy growing up in Hollywood
with no father and a famous movie star mother who wants to run your life.
Then there are all sorts of Hollywood types of people and probably none of
them are looking out for your best interests or treat you as gently as you
think they should. That is the sad premise of POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, with
a screenplay by Carrie Fisher based on her semi-autobiographical novel of
the same name.
Suzanne Vale (played by Meryl Streep) is a second-rate actress who can
get roles in only third-rate films. She seems invariably to play women of
action committed to some cause, but she herself is committed to nothing.
She consoles herself with cocaine, which makes her even harder to work with.
Then she takes the drugs a bit too far and ends up in the custody of her
singer-actress mother, Doris Mann (played by Shirley MacLaine), a show
business legend but just as dependent on alcohol and drugs as her daughter.
This all would be pretty bleak if not for Vale's quick wit, which at times
is undeniably funny, and POSTCARDS' laconic view of the nothing-is-as-it-
seems world of Hollywood filmmaking. The sarcastic wordplay among two and
occasionally three generations of women from one family is perhaps the only
thing preventing POSTCARDS from being a complete melodrama like MOMMY
DEAREST.
It is a real pity that Fisher and Debbie Reynolds did not play the
characters who were essentially themselves. It would have added some
authenticity to the roles. Fisher would have been more believable as an
actress cast in the sort of film in which looks are the most important thing
and acting talent is optional. Streep would not have been cast in such a
film, regardless of her talent, because she does not have the looks that
women in these films have. On the other hand, had Fisher and Reynolds
starred, POSTCARDS would have been criticized for where it does
fictionalize. Some courage points should be awarded to both Streep and
MacLaine for being willing to appear without make-up--each in one scene.
Streep without make-up looks just very plain; how MacLaine looks without
make-up is something of a shock and probably is going to be remembered. The
scene, however, is essential to the film and gives it the only moments where
it really says something of real interest. MacLaine's make-up is symbolic
of all the sham and pretense of the Hollywood system, but it cannot be
stripped away without stripping away the dignity. Much of the value of the
film is dependent on MacLaine being willing to play this scene.
With the exception of one or two small powerful moments, POSTCARDS FROM
THE EDGE is mostly a thin comedy-drama. I rate it a high 0 on the -4 to +4
scale.
Mark R. Leeper
att!mtgzx!leeper
leeper@mtgzx.att.comalternat@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Ann Hodgins) (10/22/90)
POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE
A film review by Ann Hodgins
Copyright 1990 Ann Hodgins
I once dreamed that I was a Kung Fu fighter fending off several
thugs at once on the edge of a precipice. I thought then in the morning
how unusual that dream was for a girl to have and I think now what a
perfect analogy it is for POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE.
This movie is not the comedy I took it to be from it promotion
although it is consistently light and subtly witty. And the promotion
also led me to hope for some hot scenes with Dennis Quaid a la THE BIG
EASY. No such luck.
But on the positive side, it was not the heavy 'message' movie I
feared it would be either, despite its anti-drug theme. There are no
heavy themes of life vs. death or good vs. evil. What messages there
are to be found in this film are indeed like postcards: short, friendly
and to the point.
And rather disjointed. There is no central theme in this movie so
it does not build to a grand finale like a Great Work of Art. It is
simply a woman struggling through a difficult point in her life against
several different but related problems, like my Kung Fu fighter dealing
with several thugs at once. And like Robin Hood or Zorro the hero's
motto is: be light-hearted, be gallant, don't hurt any one, and laugh
in the face of death.
In the movie she fights her problems as they come. Sometimes she
seems to fall back and is pushed to the edge, then comes back strong.
Sometimes she grabs on to weapon that breaks in her hands. But she is
always a fighter. Her habits may be self-destructive but she is
determined to win.
The heroine's self image as a *woman* is, I think, the real theme
of this movie. It is as though she did not quite pass puberty, but
failed it.
She has remained like a pre-pubescent poised to become a woman but
blocked from passing over the edge of childhood into womanhood, and the
block in her *Mother*. To grow up would be to compete with her
overwhelming mother at Her own game.
There is a theory, post-Freudian I think, that a young girl's first
love is her mother and to grow up she must instead learn to identify
with and to be like her mother. There are scenes, especially the first
singing scene, when this dynamic seems clearly to be the heroine's
central problem.
But whether or not you find this theme intriguing you will probably
enjoy POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE. It is light, interesting and amusing.
It has many unexpected twists and surprise: the singing is wonderful!
Ann Hodgins