DVD
Upcoming Release Calendar
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Recent DVD/Video Releases
60
9
xx
Across the Hall
56
Adam
37
Amelia
73
Amreeka
35
Babysitters, The
70
Big Fan
57
Boys Are Back, The
81
Bright Star![]()
71
Bronson
60
Brothers at War
55
Brothers Bloom, The
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
64
Che
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
54
Dare
68
Departures
19
Downloading Nancy
55
Endgame
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
27
Gamer
50
Give Me Your Hand
46
Halloween II
73
House of the Devil, The
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
17
I Hate Valentine's Day
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
83
In the Loop![]()
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
41
Little Ashes
80
Lorna's Silence
33
Love Happens
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
xx
Ministers, The
67
Moon
59
More Than a Game
49
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
28
Pandorum
68
Paranormal Activity
85
Passing Strange![]()
63
Perfect Getaway, A
44
Peter and Vandy
54
Pontypool
35
Post Grad
30
Saw VI
79
Serious Man, A
36
Serious Moonlight
76
Soul Power
40
Spiral
39
St. Trinian's
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
47
Time Traveler's Wife
43
Tru Loved
61
Trucker
47
Weather Girl
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Isn't She Great

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 2 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by:
Michael Korda (article)
Paul Rudnick
Directed by: Andrew Bergman
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 28, 2000
DVD: July 18, 2000
Running Time: 93 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
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."
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
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...
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.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
A surprisingly warm and engaging entertainment - brassy, schmaltzy, funny.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Ah, what glorious casting!
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut Sarah Raskin
As brain candy goes, Isn't She Great is just that and a little bit more.
Read Full Review >Film.com Robert Horton
Good enough in spots to make you wish it could have sustained its campier inclinations.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Newsweek Ann-Rebecca Laschever
Midler's performance does not stand out. She remains very much Bette Midler.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Contains several profanely amusing moments, but they don't add up to much.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Just isn't enough.
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Aspires to be both stylish and coarse, camp and vulgar -- which is pretty much how Bette Midler plays it.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
A watery cocktail of second-rate, Ab Fab-style bitchery and shameless schmaltz.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
Leaves an unintentional unpleasant aftertaste.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
If you're looking for laughs, give "Valley of the Dolls" another read instead.
Read Full Review >Variety Emanuel Levy
Isn't even unintentionally funny enough to qualify as guilty pleasure a la "Valley of the Dolls."
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
An utter drag, a tepid and sterilized telling of Susann's life.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
As bumbling and mindless, as naively misconceived, as that clapping-through-tears moniker.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
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.
Beercan gave it a1:
No, actually, she's not that great. At all.
Kimmie L. gave it a10:
I think that this movie is funny and makes you fell like you can accomplish anything in life and Bette plays an awesome part!!!!
