leeper@mtgzx.att.com (Mark R. Leeper) (09/21/89)
SHIRLEY VALENTINE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1989 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: A promising and well-written start
leads to a rather bland romantic comedy in an exotic setting.
While Shirley is unhappy, she is clever and endearing and
funny. Unfortunately, her wish to visit Greece comes true
and the story founders. Rating: +1.
SHIRLEY VALENTINE is a film about a woman who started out to be
remarkable, lost her way, and became very ordinary, only to find herself and
become remarkable again. The film itself starts remarkable, becomes
ordinary, but fails to become remarkable again. The play upon which the
film was based had just one woman on stage talking about her experiences but
the film decides to be more cinematic and actually dramatizes the incidents.
At 42, Shirley is a mousy little housewife taken for granted by her
working-class husband and her two grown-up but less than totally mature
children. We see her in her daily life of drudgery in which any deviance
from her normal routine is seen by her family as rebellion. She reminisces
about her slightly wild youth and wonders how that adventuresome schoolgirl
got buried in the routine of drudgery. Deep inside she longs to go to
Greece and sit by the sea sipping wine. These early parts of the film, set
in England, have a warm humor and good writing. Finally Shirley gets her
chance to go to Greece and the writing goes flat. We have a tepid and
predictable romantic comedy of her Greek fling. There are still a few nice
humorous scenes, but not enough to compensate for the staleness of the
material.
Pauline Collins is likable in the title role, repeating the part she
created on the London stage. (Ellen Burstyn played the same role in New
York, perhaps with not so thick an accent.) The play was by Willy Russell,
who wrote the film EDUCATING RITA. That film's director, Lewis Gilbert,
also directs this film. Somehow EDUCATING RITA's paean to culture seemed
like something that had to be said. In spite of some clever writing, in
SHIRLEY VALENTINE Russell seems to be saying nothing less banal than "You
cannot please everyone so you have to please yourself." For those who need
that homily reinforced this film may seem profound. My rating is a
disappointing +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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