Isn't She Great

Starring:Bette Midler, Nathan Lane, Stockard Channing, David Hyde Pierce, John Cleese, John Larroquette, Amanda Peet, Terrence Ross, Jeffrey Ross, Christopher McDonald, Paul Benedict, Dina Spybey, Pauline Little, William Hill, Mal Z. Lawrence, Adam Heller, Ellen David, Dan Ziskie, Anna Lobell, David Costabile
Director: Andrew Bergman
Studio: Universal Studios
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Most people probably approached Isn't She Great looking for a screaming camp-fest, only to discover a surprisingly sincere love letter to trash-novelist Jacqueline Susann, author of Valley of the Dolls and Once Is Not Enough. Bette Midler plays the brash, self-obsessed Susann, who started as a struggling actress yearning for fame and not too picky about what she was famous for. Fortunately, she catches the eye of personal manager Irving Mansfield (Nathan Lane), who seems to have no particular skills either but who is so passionately devoted to his client that he marries her. It's Irving who first suggests that Susann write a book about the sordid lives of celebrities and beautiful people, and Irving who pushes the book to publisher after publisher with dogged devotion. The movie lurches a bit in Susann's early life--it wants to approach the difficulties of Susann's life (an autistic son, breast cancer) with a mixture of sentimentality and irreverence, which doesn't always mesh--but once Valley of the Dolls finds a publisher, the movie finds its legs. The ever-dependable David Hyde Pierce plays the uptight WASP assigned to edit Susann's manuscript, and much mileage is gotten out of the conflict between Pierce's blue-blood manner and Midler's broad Jewish glitz. John Cleese and Stockard Channing also provide able support. Paul Rudnick's script shows a genuine affection for its heroine; Rudnick also wrote the screenplays for Addams Family Values and In and Out. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

It aint so great...but it aint so bad!.......2007-05-13

Look...every review I have read of this movie bags it. I bought it because I bought the Bacharach soundtrack and the music is fab. This film wasnt released in Australia and having read so many bad reviews I had to buy it and see for myself.
I liked it. Its not an epic, its a bit dizzy, a bit syrupy, a bit camp and there arent any special effects or car chases...but it was NICE. Just nice. Great actors, good sets and cinematography. The script is weak but makes its point and for those who know anything about or have an interest in Miss Sussann a worthwhile look.

Why Was The Cast Shuffled?.......2006-07-17

Many reviewers are confused as to why this film had a competent cast yet ended up as such a stinker, but the answer seems rather obvious:

The Casting Director of this bomb was an idiot.

I've seen this kind of thing happen before, where certain talent is chosen to play certain roles, but then later on in the development process the Casting Director has a "brain storm" about how to make it "better," as it were. Very rarely does this strategy ever work.

It seems that this was why you had Stockard Channing (a Jackie double, no less!) on board in the first place, because she seems to have been first cast as Jackie. Take some of the blame off the CD by guessing that Midler's agent later demanded that his client play Jackie instead of her friend? Possible.

But at any rate, the result was a dud, and the CD still should never have allowed it. (It could also be argued that Cleese and Pierce's parts may have been switched, but we need no further reason to call it a day on this one.)

That's because the real mixup is that Channing would have played a much better Jackie, that's all. Heck, even fellow cast member Amanda Peet would've played a better Jackie!

And as for Midler doing these lame bios, enough, already! She's already done a crappy Gypsy remake, playing Gypsy Rose Lee's mom, a crappy Janice Joplin ripoff (The Rose), a crappy Francis Langford USO gal thing (For The Boys). And now this piece of junk on Jackie.

Just remember this, Bette - and I DO love ya, gal - while you ARE and always will be the Divine Miss M., you are NOT and never will be the divine-anyone-else!

Funny, delightful, & entertaining!.......2006-01-21

I found "Isn't She Great" to be an excellent movie; while, I didn't agree with the book that Jacqueline Susann actually wrote, I do admire her tenacity to refuse to give up and remain focused on her goal!

Bette Midler is an excellent actress, who has great quips to everything!

For instance, when the character on the game show scene says, "I'm an optometrist too, I always look on the bright side," then Bette Midler's response is something like, "I'm surprised you can even see the bright side!"

Without the profanity and the vulgarity being said, the movie is a tear jerker.

I recommend this movie to adults (18+) due to the profanity and vulgarity mentioned in the film.

No She Isn't Actually . . ........2005-07-28

The title comes from the phrase that Jacqueline Susann's husband, Irving Mansfield, uttered about his wife at every possible turn. The story is based, rather vaguely, on an article by writer and editor Michael Korda titled "Wasn't She Great?" (His final assessment? Not really, but she was certainly, er, colorful). Korda had been Susann's editor for her second novel THE LOVE MACHINE, and an aghast-yet-fascinated witness to the publicity juggernaut that the writer and her husband launched to sell the book (much as they had for her previous effort, VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, only now they had a pink jet to cart them around).

In short, there is material for an interesting movie here, but although the movie is a harmless time-passer, it's not something you have to see, either. To begin with, the tense, angry Susann, the human equivalent of an overloaded watch spring, is played by a jolly and rather-too-zaftig Bette Midler (not too zaftig to be seen mind you, just to be playing a woman who seemed to live on booze, tobacco, and mood-altering prescription drugs). The real Susann, who arrived in New York with a high-school diploma, a pot habit, a complicated relationship with her father, and a burning desire to Be Famous, spent most of her life chasing the fame at the cost of a happy and productive life; she did bit parts in plays, became a married, but faithless, nightclub showgirl, knocked around in television. And by her late forties was at about the same place as she had been over 20 years earlier. The anger and frustration of those years was apparently drained into her names-changed showbiz potboilers, full of unhappy, promiscuous people who hop from bed to bed when they aren't too stoned on pills and booze to walk in a straight line (mind you, I haven't actually read any of the books--the closest I've come is a spoofy review that Calvin Trillin did of one of the novels and sitting through the last half hour of the movie version of VALLEY, appropriately while stoned on pain-killers and nursing a broken ankle--as I remember, Sharon Tate was pretty and very touching and Patty Duke yelled a LOT).

It's rather hard to reconcile such bile with this movie (written by Paul Rudnick) about a nice Jewish lady who writes a naughty little novel and helps everybody, including her up-tight WASP-y editor (David Hyde-Pierce) to overcome their sexual hangups, fitting all of this in between weeping over the fate of her autistic son and popping by Central Park to chat with God (Susann did have an autistic son and she did have the odd chat with the Deity, but if you want the lowdown of how they fit into her rather dark life story, better to check out Barbara Seaman's LOVELY ME, one of the best biographies I've ever read about a writer I have no interest in reading). That lady, as I've mentioned before, is played very agreeably by Bette Midler, and Nathan Lane is just as affable playing her husband. Hyde-Pierce is basically doing a re-mix of Niles Crane, but he is such an assured and appealing actor that you really don't care. There are also amusing turns by Stockard Channing as an actress friend of Midler's and John Cleese as an eccentric publisher. Also, some nice music by Burt Bacharach (even a Bacharach/David song sung by Dionne Warwick), pretty photography, nice costumes YAWN, YAWN . . .

Pure Dreck.......2005-01-23

This film version of the lifestory of Jacqueline Susann is deplorable in every way. What were these people thinking of? And did this movie actually make into the theatres? Even as a fan of Midler and Susann, it was a completely disappointing experience, with Midler, whose standard schtick is wearing thin these days, playing little more than a parody of herself. If we hadn't already known it was supposed to be about Jacqueline Susann, it would never have become apparent, since Midler misses the mark entirely - beginning with her physical type. As a gifted and presumably self-respecting actress, Midler should have abandoned the project after watching the first rushes. What also should have become apparent from the first rushes, is that Stockard Channing, who seems to play a comglomerate of Susann's women friends, should have played Susann herself. She has the range and skill and look to pull it off - Midler's a great entertainer, but Channing is a far better actress. As Irving Mansfield, Susann's husband and agent, Nathan Lane is well on his way to become the male Bette Midler - a parody of himself, and as predictable as he can be. Lane is just lame in this. The script was a few funny exchanges, but in the hands of Midler and Nathan Lane's overacting, *any* script would get lost. It is much more of a fictionalized account of Susann's life - the episodes of spending time on the *Christina* with Ari and Jackie Onassis are completely fabricated - but it's all for naught anyway. As for the all-important costuming - it is a split decision. Technically many of the clothes were absolutely perfect - they just looked ridiculous on Midler. Jacqueline Susann was fastidious about her fashion appearance, such as it was, and many of the clothes seemed to be exact replicas of the originals. On Susann, the styles were garish and over-the-top, emphasizing her rock-hard desire to succeed at any cost. On Midler, the same clothes were ludicrous. I admire Midler for being unafraid to look ludicrous - it's been her calling card for decades - but the ugly reality is that Midler, who is gloriously Ruebenesque, needed to shed more than a few pounds to pull off Susann's look. The Truman Capote character, played by Sam Street, was fabulous - for his entire 30 seconds onscreen, and while the film's reference to the famous feud between Capote and Susann was briefly touched on, it is exactly the sort of incident of Susann's life that is completely obliterated by this fiasco. John Cleese is wasted as Susann's publisher, and Hyde-Pierce is his usual Niles-like anal-retentive self. The producers were right on the money a few times -- music by Burt Bacharach and sung by Dionne Warwick was an excellent choice, if only they had used ALL of Bacharach's Sixties style music instead of any of the dreary new stuff. "Isn't She Great" is simply awful.

Charlie Rose with Paul Rudnick & Nathan Lane; Brad Grey; James Conlon (February 3, 2000)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Paul Rudnick & Nathan Lane; Brad Grey; James Conlon (February 3, 2000)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

First, a conversation with Paul Rudnick and Nathan Lane, the writer and star of the new film, Isn't She Great, which is based on a 1995 New Yorker magazine by Michael Korda. It is an homage to Jacqueline Susann, who wrote such books as Valley of the Dolls and The Love Machine, and was arguably the most controversial and successful novelist of her generation. Later, a conversation with Hollywood talent manager and producer Brad Grey, CEO of Basic Entertainment. Finally, an interview with James Conlon, conductor of the Paris Opera.

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