After watching this film, I was very surprised to learn that it was an Oscar winner. Admittedly, it was for Best Special Effects, which is a very contextual award that is difficult to judge fairly 30 years later. That said, the award kind of embodies my problem with the movie as a whole. The entire premise felt like a gimmick designed specifically to showcase a handful of cutting edge (at the time) special effects. I imagine the pitch for this movie may have been hyper focused on a few special effects scenes, with the rest of the story taking a back seat (i.e. [spoiler]_"Wouldn't it be really cool for Meryl Streep to have her head on backwards and for Goldie Hawn to have a hole in her torso??"_[/spoiler]). As you might expect, this approach doesn't make for a very well rounded film (although interestingly enough, this was allegedly how _The Matrix_ was pitched, so what do I know).


The structure of this film also felt very strange and oddly disjointed. I actually quite liked the relentlessly paced opening, with its multiple 7 year jumps to get through a whole lot of setup in a hyper-efficient way. That said, there was so much setup to get through that when the main premise/gimmick finally came around, it felt like it was a little late to the party. The conflict also felt like it didn't have a strong through line. The competition between the two female leads is essentially (and abruptly) resolved before act three, leaving the rest of the film to awkwardly pivot focus onto the hapless Bruce Willis. Ultimately this lead to an ending that felt rushed and unearned.


Despite these issues, there are still some positives to point out. As I said, the opening was actually quite fun. The performances are strong, with Meryl Streep and Bruce Willis both really selling their characters. There's plenty of quirky humor. Unfortunately, all of these positive elements are let down by a jumbled story that just didn't work for me.

"Helen" (Goldie Hawn) has always lived in the shadow of her friend, the successful actress "Madeline" (Meryl Streep), but when she loses her fiancée - renowned, if rather dowdy, plastic surgeon "Dr. Menville" (Bruce Willis) to her, she loses the plot. Eventually twice the size and evicted from her apartment with her hands still glued to the ice cream pot, she is sent to a mental institution were she finally concocts a plan for revenge. Meantime, the marriage has rather gone to seed. "Madeline" seeks comfort in the arms of younger men, but when her latest beau rejects her, she finds herself - via the kindly intervention of an almost unrecognisable Ian Ogilvy ("Chagall") - in the lair of the seductive "Lisle von Rhuman" (Isabella Rossellini) who offers her eternal youth. Of course there is a price - but will she pay it? What ensues for the last forty five minutes is really quite entertaining. Streep and Hawn look like they are enjoying themselves as their antics become comically macabre. Willis, the now bottle-hitting doctor - who has been largely reduced to manicuring corpses - is also clearly having some fun and Rossellini hams up wonderfully. The ending isn't my favourite, but I suppose it was "fair" and desserts were just. This is an amiable, feel-good, comedy with everyone on good form, some lovely snide dialogue and I liked it.