Death Becomes Her

Starring: Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn, Isabella Rosselini, Ian Ogilvy, Adam Storke, Fabio, Sydney Pollack (uncredited)
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
1992

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman (Meryl Streep) learns about a potion that grants immortality. However, once takes she it, it is not what she expected.

Review:

Tim: I was pretty interested to finally see Death Becomes Her. It was at least a fairly classic comedy directed by Robert Zemeckis, features a strong cast, and it won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It's strange that I'd never actually seen the film, So, 28 years after its initial release, I finally got to see it. And, I promptly disliked it. I really tried with this film, I tried to view it through the lens of the early 1990s, but no matter what I did, I couldn't get myself to like it. Indeed, I actively didn't. This is a bad movie and I'm shocked anyone else feels otherwise.

There's no doubt that the film featured cutting-edge visual effects for its time. It feels quaint watching it now, but I was appropriately impressed seeing what Zemeckis was able to accomplish here. He's always pushed the boundaries of special effects and he certainly did that here. The visuals are impressive and the story lends itself to creating some terrific visual moments. Whether that is seeing a woman with her head twisted all the way backwards (and continuing to walk around), or a woman with a giant shotgun blast through her stomach, these scenes are impressive to see. It wasn't a huge surprise that the film won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, other than the fact that the movie wasn't effective. The visual absolutely were.

But, let's get into some of the problems. First off, the movie does a terrible job of setting up these characters. I have no idea why we were supposed to care about such terrible people. The heart of the film is a love triangle between an alcoholic reconstructive mortician, a vain actress, and a struggling writer. That might seem unique and quirky and perhaps it is, but it also makes you shake your head a bit. These three randomly connect with a cult of immortals, who offer them a potion that gives them immortality. The two women, being vain, selfish, rotten people, immediately take the potion. They later discover that there's a twist- when they "die", they remain "alive", really just walking corpses. The whole thing is pretty stupid. The problem is that none of these characters deserve the least amount of sympathy from the audience. Everything they do is self-serving. They have almost no redeemable qualities. Now, this could have worked- had they been interesting people. The movie not only delivers us unlikable characters, but they're so incredibly dull. These two women fight and battle for decades over an alcoholic man who might have some talent, but it's dressing up corpses. It's a wildly convenient job for him to have in the context of the story, but none of it makes sense. It's a film about three losers who don't do much of anything interesting.

The thing that kills me about all this is that the movie had every opportunity to tell a powerful story. Imagine a movie about two women who are chasing immortality, achieve it, and discover it's not what they expected. And, their personal flaws and sins directly result in their fate, which you could argue is a fate worse than death. At the end, they have no one to blame but themselves. That should have been a powerful meditation on free will, divination, and fate. You could have still told that story and made this a comedy. All the elements are there, but Zemeckis squanders them. He's significantly more interested in making jokes about Elvis and other famous celebrities still be alive, verses exploring the truly human aspects of this story.

On paper, the cast looks excellent. They weren't quite that good, but still a strength. Meryl Streep is today one of the most revered and talented actresses in Hollywood. It was interesting to see her here. She was less refined, less polished, but still so talented. I felt bad for the role she was given, but I can't really complain about her performance. I like Bruce Willis even when I shouldn't. It was interesting to see him in such an unexpected role. He put a lot of effort into the role, but his level of talent couldn't quite match what the movie needed. Isabella Rosellini added a solid supporting performance. She is talented as well and made that role better than it would have been. I liked seeing Sydney Pollack here in a small, uncredited scene.

I did want to talk about Goldie Hawn for a minute. I've said this in other reviews, but I've just never gotten her. She always seems like a terrible, terrible actress to me. I know she's had a long and successful career, but I don't see it. This felt like an opportunity to change my mind. She's partnered with other long-time actors and she has a meaty, memorable role. She was fine, I suppose. I never loved her performance, she didn't do anything that made me believe she has actual talent. There were multiple scenes where her acting felt forced and unnecessarily over-the-top. This is the 6th film of hers I've seen (admittedly not that many), and I haven't liked a single one of them. Hawn is just a bad actress.

I usually like movies with strong visual effects, but that was not the case here. Death Becomes Her is a mess of a movie. It's a film that had all the ingredients to be successful and it just didn't happen.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Private Benjamin, Bird on a Wire