Death Becomes Her Reviews

Maybe not a cinematic masterpiece, but, by god, is it a rollicking good time! So who really cares if the meeting of Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Isabella Rossellini didn’t lead to a classic in the five-star sense of the term? It created a wonderfully strange and campy diva standoff in which Streep and Hawn got to add new depths and layers to their public images and poke some jabs at a youth obsessed society.

The basics of the plot concern two old friends who eventually become enemies over Bruce Willis’ romantic affections, reunite years later and continue their feud to hilariously dark and disturbing places. Oh, and the secret to eternal beauty and youth is involved as well. Ok, so there’s not too much meat on them bones, but it honestly doesn’t matter. Death Becomes Her gave Streep and Hawn two deliciously vampy and campy roles, and they relish the opportunities like the consummate actresses that they are. (Quick aside: where has Goldie Hawn disappeared to? I miss her.) Watching the two of them deliver grotesque and incredibly graphic cartoonish violence upon each other is a joy that possibly only a gay man could truly enjoy.

After building up her career as an actress of tremendous range and versatility in (mostly) prestige films and literary adaptations, Streep finally broke free of that Greer Garson school of acting and found a manic Carole Lombard type buried underneath that impressive technique. She looks like she’s having a ball playing an aging actress who will do anything to stay young and beautiful. And Hawn is her former best friend-turned-enemy. Years prior Streep stole away Willis, a plastic surgeon, from Hawn, which lead to Hawn’s character having a complete breakdown and vowing revenge. What is better revenge than looking good and feeling fabulous? But Hawn’s character is still mentally in a very dark place, and Hawn, normally so bubbly and sunny, nails that unhinged maniac lurking beneath the surface. They play off of each other wonderfully, and Willis for his part isn’t too shabby. Known primarily for the Die Hard franchise, Willis here plays a sweaty, nervous type who appears as if he’d be all thumbs in all matters of romance. It is a departure, but it somehow works in the film’s favor to cast an actor known for he-man machismo as a neurotic schlub.

But where the film mainly falters is that it never develops beyond these sequences and story ideas. It seems more obsessed with the idea of Rossellini as an exotic purveyor of eternal youth and beauty that they never bothered to develop her character beyond this quick sketch. Rossellini, thanks to good genetics, is an intoxicating presence no matter what she is doing, and it doesn’t hurt that she has a strange, foreign mystique about her that makes any action she does infinitely interesting. But around this time David Lynch was routinely proving what a capable actress she was so it’s a pity they couldn’t craft more for her to do, although she does get a great joke about why Greta Garbo went into self-imposed seclusion. However, that’s all the film really is – a few great jokes about our obsession with aging, diva theatrics and loads of special effects. There’s not a lot of story or character development here. Still, it’s a ton of fun and I’ll admit to watching it whenever it comes on TV or, in this case, before it went off Netflix.

When I was about 12 years old, I actually saw this flick at the movie theater when it was released. To be honest, I'm not sure if it was really appropriate or anything for me to watch it at that age but I had a good time and I eventually never forgot it. Eventually, I watched it again 20 years later and, to be honest, I thought it was still pretty good. Basically, it is a very dark and sardonic comedy directed by Robert Zemeckis. Furthermore, you had a pretty cool cast (Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, Isabella Rossellini) and they all delivered some decent performances, above all, Bruce Willis who played against his usual type very well here. On top of that, the special effects which were quite awesome when I was a kid and still hold up pretty good nowadays (You can say whatever you want about Robert Zemeckis but the guy is and has always been a special effects wizard). I must admit that the story was rather messy and it is not surprising since the film underwent some major re-editing after some negative feedback was received during the test screenings. I guess I like it above all out of nostalgia but I still think it is a nice black comedy. To conclude, it is a rather forgotten and obscure dark feature but I think it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.