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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Isn't She Great
Universal Pictures
MPAA RATING: R for language
Starring
Bette Midler,
Nathan Lane,
Stockard Channing,
David Hyde Pierce,
John Cleese,
John Larroquette,
and
Amanda Peet
Andrew Bergman's campy biopic about Jacqueline Susann (Midler), the struggling acress of stage and screen who quit acting to write her first novel, the enormously successful and salacious "Valley of the Dolls."
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Michael Korda (article)
Paul Rudnick
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Andrew Bergman
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: July 18, 2000
Video: July 18, 2000
Theatrical: January 28, 2000
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
93 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
75
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Isn't great, but it's an enjoyable if overly discreet and romanticized look at a long-vanished show-business world.
75
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
A surprisingly warm and engaging entertainment - brassy, schmaltzy, funny.
75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Unexpectedly entertaining, if you're willing to put up with the picture's stagy look, over-the-top moods, and heavy doses of vulgarity.
70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
A cupcake of a movie, a sweet and lightweight little thing that's all but served up in a ruffled paper cup.
70
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Ah, what glorious casting!
67
Austin Chronicle
Russel Smith
An ideal diversion for one of those evenings when low expectations feel more like a state of grace than a surrender to vice.
67
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
It's peppy and cheesy and filled with life and humor in just the way, you imagine, that Susann might have enjoyed.
65
TNT RoughCut
Sarah Raskin
As brain candy goes, Isn't She Great is just that and a little bit more.
63
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Intermittently funny.
60
Film.com
Robert Horton
Good enough in spots to make you wish it could have sustained its campier inclinations.
42
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Paula Nechak
Though it does present the facts of Susann's life, it skims them so quickly and with such glorious glee that we never get a sense of who this woman really was.
40
Newsweek
Ann-Rebecca Laschever
Midler's performance does not stand out. She remains very much Bette Midler.
40
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Contains several profanely amusing moments, but they don't add up to much.
40
Film.com
John Hartl
Curiously bland and flavorless.
40
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Just isn't enough.
40
Film.com
Moira MacDonald
What on earth is Stockard Channing doing in this mess?
40
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Aspires to be both stylish and coarse, camp and vulgar -- which is pretty much how Bette Midler plays it.
40
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
A watery cocktail of second-rate, Ab Fab-style bitchery and shameless schmaltz.
38
USA Today
Mike Clark
A bottom-rung Bette Midler vehicle disguised as a biopic of novelist Jacqueline Susann, the movie is a wannabe satire shackled by misplaced reverence.
38
San Francisco Examiner
Walter Addiego
Second-banana material.
38
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Stack
Leaves an unintentional unpleasant aftertaste.
38
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
A flabbergasting waste of time and talent.
30
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
If you're looking for laughs, give "Valley of the Dolls" another read instead.
30
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Lame comic-strip excuse for a biopic.
30
Variety
Emanuel Levy
Isn't even unintentionally funny enough to qualify as guilty pleasure a la "Valley of the Dolls."
25
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A flat and peculiar film.
25
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Just plain bad. Really, really bad.
20
Slate
David Edelstein
It used to be that Midler was a life force, but whenever she tries to play one, she looks like she's floating in formaldehyde.
20
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
A major washout.
20
Dallas Observer
Robert Wilonsky
An utter drag, a tepid and sterilized telling of Susann's life.
10
Time
Richard Schickel
One of the worst messes in years.
0
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
As bumbling and mindless, as naively misconceived, as that clapping-through-tears moniker.
0
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
If it were the last videotape available in the only video store in the remotest corner of Alaska, I'd take one last slug of Jack Daniels and start walking directly into the howling snows.
0
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Has to be among the worst movies ever made.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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