Father of the Bride (Steve Martin)

(Amazon UK link)

We wanted something light-hearted to watch on an evening when we were both tired. We hadn’t seen the 1991 film ‘Father of the Bride’ since July 2012, and with a nine-year gap we had forgotten most of it. So it seemed like a good idea to see it again.

Steve Martin stars as George Banks, who opens the film sitting in the detritus of a wedding, evidently held in his home. He gives a monologue about his daughter growing up, and just what happens when she decides to get married…

The action switches to six months earlier when his daughter Annie (Kimberly Williams) gets home after an assignment abroad, and it’s clear that she and her father are very close. But she has an announcement to make: she hasn’t just met ‘someone’, she’s fallen in love and they are engaged. Bryan (George Newbern) arrives soon afterwards, very nervous but deeply in love.

George takes Bryan in dislike, not because there is anything objectionable about him; simply because he doesn’t want his little girl to grow up and find another man who is more important than her father. The film is about him coming to terms with that, knowing that he has to let go in order for her to be happy.

But although there are some very poignant moments, it’s also a very funny film. Steve Martin’s expressions and body language are superbly done - his comic timing is always good. Diane Keaton plays his wife Nina, who finds him frustrating at times but loves him dearly; she’s a great foil for his overreactions to situations, and plays the part of peacemaker in the family.

I should also mention Annie’s little brother Matty (Kieran Culkin). The actor was only about nine when the film was made, but he too has excellent comic timing, and a great role, with amusingly mature wisdom at times.

Most of the film covers the preparations for the wedding, organised by ‘Franck’ (Martin Short) who is an over-the-top pseudo-French and rather camp person, brilliant in his artistry but sparing no expense. Annie’s family is quite well off but, as George explains, the wedding cost more than their house - and the amounts discussed seem extortionate even now, thirty years after the film was made.

There are scenes and lines which made us laugh aloud as well as those where I felt a strong sense of empathy, particularly after 18 months of pandemic without seeing my sons or grandchildren. It’s a bit schmaltzy of course, but thoroughly enjoyable too - and exactly what we needed for an evening’s light relaxation.

Definitely recommended if you like romantic comedies with more comedy than romance. It’s rated PG which reflects the lack of violence or anything explicit. There’s almost no bad language, although there are inevitably one or two sexual references. However the subject matter is unlikely to be of interest to anyone under the age of about twelve.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

One True Thing (Meryl Streep)

(Amazon UK link)

We had no idea what to expect when we decided to watch ‘One True Thing’. I had bought it used from a church sale because Meryl Streep was listed as one of the main characters and she’s always excellent value. But we had never heard of the film - it was made in 1998, apparently.

Ellen (Renée Zellweger) is in fact the first person we meet; she’s being interviewed, probably by a policeman or other official, and it’s clear that she realises she could be in trouble. Her mother has died, after a long illness, and it appears that there were suspicious circumstances. But we only get hints of what happened at the start. The story immediately flashes back to a surprise party given for her father George (William Hurt).

Kate (Meryl Streep) is an outgoing, organised kind of person and we meet her dressed as ‘Dorothy’ from ‘Wizard of Oz’, since the party is a fancy dress one. Ellen and the friend she’s travelled with are not dressed up; it’s immediately clear that she’s a very different personality from her mother. She’s career-minded and intelligent, and she’s also an aspiring writer who works in a news agency.

When George arrives home, he’s quite surprised; I wondered if he was going to object to the party, but it’s clear that he adores his wife even though he does very little around the house. He’s an academic who has published a book, and Ellen clearly wants his approval, seeing her mother as rather irritating and not particularly intelligent.

The party sets the scene skilfully for the different relationships within the family. Ellen has a very nice brother (Tom Everett Scott) who won’t admit to their father that he has failed an exam. He’s more like their mother in personality, but gets along well with his sister. And George is really not a good father, although his relationship with his wife seems to be a good one…

The bulk of the film takes place a while later when it’s clear that Kate has a terminal illness, and needs full-time care. George is not willing to take a sabbatical from his work, so Ellen is guilt-tripped into taking a break from her own career, despite being on the verge of a very good story. As Ellen spends more time with her mother, they finally start to acknowledge each other’s strengths, and Ellen begins to understand her a bit better…

It was quite a long film by today’s standards (over two hours) but right from the start we were mesmerised. Renée Zellweger is excellent as Ellen, and William Hurt is very good as the dislikable George. But - as is usually the case - it’s Meryl Streep who steals the show, in almost every respect. She must have been about fifty when this film was made, but could have passed for not much more than forty at the start. Her descent into serious illness, making her look twice that age by the end, is brilliantly done. I’m sure a lot of the credit must go to her make-up artiste, but as a sick woman she is entirely believable, brilliant throughout.

It’s a moving story; there are a few light-hearted moments to lift the mood a little, but although the party at the start is a little over-the-top, it manages to be believable, as does Kate despite the garish costume and extraverted cheerfulness even in the face of her somewhat condescending daughter.

It’s the kind of story that will stay with us, something we might watch again in another eight or nine years. It’s rated 15 (R in the United States!) despite no nudity, nothing explicit and no violence. Admittedly the subject matter is unsuitable for younger children, and there’s some bad language (though not excessive). The descent into agonising illness is quite disturbing too. But I don’t think there’s anything unsuitable for younger teens with reasonable maturity, and would have expected it to be rated 12 or PG-13 (as it is in some other countries).

Definitely recommended, if you like a drama with sensitive and potentially disturbing subject matter. The pace is excellent, the people so believable that we were totally caught up in the storyline. And it's quite thought-provoking too. The ending is bittersweet but overall positive, if a tad shocking.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

Mamma Mia (Amanda Seyfried)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s ten years - almost to the day! - since my younger son and some of his friends introduced me to the musical film ‘Mamma Mia’. Set on a Greek island, liberally peppered with Abba songs, I liked it very much. So when I saw the DVD inexpensively at a sale, I thought it a good idea to buy a copy.  However I wasn’t sure if my husband would like it; he’s not a fan of musicals, in general.

Last night he suggested we watch it, thinking it could be light and relaxing. He does like Abba songs, so I mentioned that the story is essentially written around them, with not a huge amount of plot. Indeed, I hadn’t remembered much of the story at all, other than that it involved a wedding, and Meryl Streep.

Amanda Seyfried is the real star of this, however. She plays Sophie, a young woman of twenty who is about to get married. Her mother - Meryl Streep - runs a guesthouse in a Greek island, although it’s rather run-down. She and her staff are preparing a huge feast for the wedding, and rooms for guests, and there’s clearly a lot to be done.

Sophie tells her two closest friends (and bridesmaids) that she has invited three men to the party, one of whom must be her father. Her mother never told her his name, but Sophie has found her journal from twenty years earlier, and it’s clear that there are three possible candidates. Sophia wrote to them, and they have all said they’re coming… but her mother doesn’t know.

We then meet these three very different guys: Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård). Bill is a laid-back kind of guy who owns a boat. Harry is quite uptight, and Sam is a wealthy businessman. There are some deleted scenes - which we saw afterwards - that introduce them properly in context; these scenes probably wouldn’t have added much to the story but were very interesting to see later.

The three end up arriving together in Bill’s boat, and being led to a very dilapidated room by Sophie… who hasn’t told any of them that they might be her father. She thought she would just know when she met them, but this isn’t the case…

So there’s quite a comedy of errors, punctuated with musical numbers (sung by the cast, although in most cases they sound very Abba-like). There are huge crowds involved, and some amazing choreography. There’s humour (Colin Firth’s comic timing is superb) and some poignancy, too.  And of course there’s Meryl Streep, looking so like her film daughter that I wondered if the actress was her real mother. Apparently Streep was 59 when she did this role, in which she dances and leaps about like someone at least twenty years younger.

Of course it’s all rather silly, in the way that musicals are, where everyone dances and sings while the rest of the action stops. But it looked as if everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves, and it’s so well done that I was quite caught up in the story (such as it was). My husband had spotted that some of the scenery was set in a studio, but I hadn’t noticed; it was explained in the ‘making of’ extra which we saw later.

The one person we felt didn’t quite fit the role (and really didn’t sound at all Abba-like when singing) was Pierce Brosnan as Sam. We couldn’t quite believe in him as Sam, and would have preferred him to have rather fewer solo roles. All of the actors apparently did their own singing (in a studio) and in most cases it was excellent.

Although the UK rating is PG, and there’s nothing explicit, nor any violence, there are a lot of innuendoes. There's also quite a seductive scene part-way through, although nothing comes of it. And of course the entire storyline revolves around three different people having slept with Sophie’s mother twenty years earlier. So I wouldn't recommended it for children or any younger teens who might find this shocking or embarrassing.

But with that proviso, I would definitely recommend this for a light evening’s viewing even if you don’t like musicals in general (unless you also don’t like Abba songs - there are a lot of them!).

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

Pretty Woman (Julia Roberts)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s nearly nine years since we first saw the film ‘Pretty Woman’. It’s considered almost a classic nowadays, and is the film that first made Julia Roberts’ name. I had forgotten that it was made as long ago as 1990, and that she was only 21 when it was produced.

Roberts plays Vivian, who is a prostitute in New York. This is not the kind of scenario that would usually draw me into a film. But although the situation is very sleazy, and Vivian’s clothes extremely revealing, there’s nothing explicit. It doesn’t seem as if she quite fits the scene: I can’t tell what kind of accent she has, but despite her clothes she comes across as rather more sophisticated than her friends.

Richard Gere is the co-star, playing a very wealthy businessman called Edward. He is divorced and has just broken from a long-term relationship, basically because he’s never available to her. And, indeed, we see him in his office, consulting with his lawyer, making deals. It turns out that he doesn’t actually trade in or make anything as such; he buys failing businesses, divides them up into smaller entities (often destroying their original aims) and then sells them at a massive profit. And he’s very good at his job.

He’s on his way to a hotel in preparation for concluding another business deal when he gets lost in the neighbourhood where Vivian works. She tries to solicit him, but he explains that he just wants directions. She offers to show him where the hotel is, at a cost… and he agrees. He even lets her drive when she starts criticising his style, and then - somewhat against his better judgement, it seems - he invites her to stay the night with him.

Edward needs an elegant woman to accompany him to some business dinners, and suggests Vivienne might like to stay longer, and fulfil this role… after which she has to buy elegant and expensive clothes (on his credit card), and learn which fork to use for each course….

The story is essentially a modern take on ‘My Fair Lady’ (which of course is based on the classic ‘Pygmalion’). And it works very well. The script is good, and Julia Roberts is excellent. She gradually learns to like being surrounded by luxury - and also to be much too fond of Edward. There’s some humour, some poignancy, and a slightly overdone (but entirely satisfying) fairytale-style ending.

We weren’t so impressed with Richard Gere, however. As a businessman in a suit he is mostly believable - incisive, hard-hearted, determined to make as much money as he can, irrelevant of anyone else’s preferences. However his expression rarely changes - he has a kind of slightly amused look on his face all the time, no matter who he’s speaking to, and while it’s easy to see why he is attracted to Vivienne, it’s not obvious at all that he is. Unsurprisingly his heart begins to soften a little, but neither his voice nor his face change, and it’s a bit hard to believe in his transformation.

Still, he proves to be an unexpectedly talented pianist.

On the other hand, we absolutely loved Hector Elizondo as the hotel manager Barney; he was the perfect mixture of formal and friendly. He follows the rules but acknowledges that some of his best clients sometimes break them. Some of the best scenes involve him, often with Vivien too.

It was revealing to see the attitude of some people to young women in Vivian’s profession - and how a credit card can get pretty much anything, at least in the world in which Edward lives. The amount of money he earns - and pays - seems astronomical, and that’s thinking about today’s money in a film that’s now thirty years old.

The rating is 15, which seems about right. There’s not a great deal of bad language, and only one real scene of violence, which is short-lived, although there are other threatened ones. And of course there’s a lot of discussion of what prostitutes do, and some scenes of intimacy, although most are implied and there’s nothing too explicit. In the slightly more prudish US censorship system it's rated R, which is equivalent to a UK 18.

It’s not, in any case, the kind of film that would be of any interest at all to most children or younger teens - or even older teens, necessarily, as Edward comes across as staid, almost middle-aged.

But for those over 18 wanting a good light romantic story, with a bit of humour, and who doesn’t mind the theme, I would recommend it highly.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Nia Vardalos)

(Amazon UK link)

We wanted something light-weight and not too long to watch, and ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ seemed to fill those criteria perfectly. We last watched it in 2012; it’s one of the few films that I’ve now seen four times in all, but it’s extremely well-made with plenty of amusing scenes, and some excellent casting.

Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos) is the central character in this film. She’s the academic daughter in a typically Greek family living in the United States. There’s a hospitable mother, Maria, (Lainie Kazan) who regularly peels potatoes for thirty or more relatives, and who knows just how to deal with her very patriarchal husband Gus (Michael Constantine).

Gus is a typical (albeit caricatured) Greek who believes his culture is the best in the world. His children go to Greek school, and they’re expected to work in his family restaurant in their teens, and then marry Greeks so they can produce Greek babies. But Toula likes to study; she sees ways that the business could be more efficient, but her father doesn’t respect her ideas. It’s not that he’s unpleasant or unkind - he adores all his family. He’s just rather tunnel-visioned and can’t see beyond his own upbringing.

Toula, who is considered frumpish by her family, is attracted to a non-Greek American called Ian (John Corbett). By the time she meets him, she’s working for her aunt Voulla, and has somewhat upgraded her image to be more fashionable, and they quickly become friends. Then more than friends. But she knows her father won’t approve, and it’s not until they’re spotted by a neighbour that her family finds out about their romance.

We watched some of the extras this time - short snippets with several of the cast members - and were interested to learn that Nia Vardalos wrote a lot of the script, based on her own family and romantic life. That explains why it all feels so believable, albeit a tad caricatured. And of course Ian’s parents are equally caricatured - but believable - as a rather uptight and very respectable American family.

We remembered some of the more amusing lines, of course - the origin of the word ‘kimono’ as a supposed Greek word has become a classic reference, as has the idea of a mother as the ‘neck’ of the household, under the ‘head’ but entirely in control. But we’d forgotten a lot - including the way Ian is so good-natured, and so willing to enter into Toula’s world despite its being quite foreign to him.

The dialogue is excellent, the pace just right, the choreography superb… and the whole a very enjoyable, albeit light-hearted story of a cultural mix that actually works.

Highly recommended.

You can read other reviews and find out more information about this film, as well as a short trailer, here: My Big Fat Greek Wedding on IMDb.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

Beaches (Bette Midler)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s nine years since we watched the film ‘Beaches’, and we’d totally forgotten what it was about. It was made in 1988, in a time when people had longer attention spans, so it’s over two hours - and last night, when we watched, we were captivated right from the start, unaware of the time passing.

Bette Midler is the main character, playing ‘CC’, who’s clearly a well-known and popular singing when we meet her at the start. She’s just finished rehearsing for a major concert when she’s handed a note - perhaps a telegram - which causes her to abandon everyone, and race to the airport. She doesn’t even tell anyone why she’s leaving.

CC is unable to get on a plane, so she rents a car and drives through the night. As she does so, she reminisces, and the majority of the film is a series of flashbacks, telling the story of her friendship with Hillary (Barbara Hershey) a girl who is different from her in just about every respect.

CC and Hillary meet when they are eleven. CC is street-wise, with a pushy mother who wants to exploit her talent. The 11-year-old CC is brilliantly played by Mayim Bailik, so much so that it was hard to believe she is not closely related to Bette Midler. I have no idea when the actresses switched during the years that are covered.

Hillary (whose 11-year-old self is played by Marcie Leeds) is wealthy, pretty, naive and lonely. Her father is distant, her mother died when she was younger, and she’s being brought up by an aunt. But she and CC decide to stay in touch, and they write letters over the years although they don’t meet again until they are adults.

It’s a wonderful friendship, which only starts to fray at the edges when CC gradually becomes more successful. She’s a remarkably self-centred person who doesn’t seem to care much for anyone (other than, perhaps, Hillary) as her career is all-absorbing. Hillary is a brilliant lawyer, but gives up her career when she gets married, and CC is very disapproving.

The script is excellent, the pace exactly right to tell the story. There are some light-hearted parts, and one very bawdy scene where Hillary and her husband disapprove of a musical CC is in. There’s also a great deal of poignancy towards the end, and both the women have to come to terms with what their friendship really means.

It’s only at the very end that we discover why CC has rushed away from her concert, finally putting her ambition aside for the sake of someone else. It’s all extremely moving, with some positive scenes right at the end.

The rating was originally 15 but it was changed to 12 (PG-12 in the US) which seems about right to me. There are a few instances of bad language, but they’re not inappropriate or excessive. There are a couple of intimate scenes but they’re tastefully done, and while there are innuendoes and casual talk about one-night stands and infidelity, there’s nothing too overt. I don’t suppose anyone younger than about twelve or thirteen would be interested in it anyway, but I’d have no problem showing it to a reasonably mature teenager of about thirteen or older.

Definitely recommended if you like films of this kind: a character-based drama with a heart-wrenching climax.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

Remember Me (Robert Pattison)

(Amazon UK link)

The film ‘Remember Me’ has been sitting in our drawer of DVDs to watch - either new ones, or those we haven’t seen for eight or nine years or more. We haven’t previously seen ‘Remember Me’, but neither of us can remember how we acquired it. Possibly from a church sale, or a thrift store. The blurb on the back made it sound quite heavy going, but last night, we finally decided to watch it.

I wasn’t sure I was going to like it in the early scenes. The film opens in 1991 with a young woman being mugged and then shot at a railway station, leaving a weeping daughter and devastated husband.

It then moves ten years later, where we meet Tyler (Robert Pattison) who is a college student, and who also works in a book shop. He and his friend Aidan (Tate Ellington) share a rather grungy apartment, and are out one evening when they get involved in some street violence. The police are contacted, but Tyler isn’t at all happy with how the situation is resolved, and gets into conflict with Neil (Chris Cooper). Neil is the bereaved husband from 1991, and who is evidently violent and judgemental.

Tyler’s father (Pierce Brosnan) is a wealthy businessman who gets into a lot of arguments with his son, and more-or-less ignores his nine-year-old daughter Caroline (Ruby Jerins). We quickly learn that Tyler had an older brother, Michael, who committed suicide a few years earlier. Tyler is still grieving, and is very protective of his sister. She’s rather a dreamer, and an artistic prodigy, and isn’t just neglected by her father, she’s bullied at school.

And then there’s Ally (Emilie de Ravin), Neil’s daughter, who lost her mother in the opening scenes. She’s a student too, in some of the same classes as Tyler. And Aiden suggests that his friend ask her out, and then treat her badly, to take revenge on her father. Tyler is reluctant, but finds Ally very attractive…

The back of the DVD says that this film is ‘terrifically powerful, hugely moving and totally compelling’. While blurbs often exaggerate, we thought this one absolutely correct. Despite my initial reservations, I was soon totally absorbed in the storyline. It’s quite heavy in places and I didn’t like the violence, nor the shocking ending. But there are some light-hearted scenes as Tyler and Ally’s friendship develops, and some clever dialogue. Then the subplots involving Caroline are poignant and moving, and provide an excellent contrast to the more active, often aggressive scenes involving Tyler.

We didn’t see the ending coming, until right before the climax. It would be a spoiler to give any hints - suffice it to say that I felt slightly cheated at first, but then realised how very powerful it was as a storyline. We watched the ‘making of’ documentary, which explained why the scriptwriter used a significant incident and made a film around it, bringing ordinary, flawed but likeable characters to life, to make the point about ordinary people being involved in unexpected situations.

The acting is excellent, the pace exactly right, the conversation believable. It’s a film we won’t forget; I don’t know if we’ll want to see it again in another few years, or whether it would be difficult to see it, knowing what was coming. But it’s one I would recommend, if only for a piece of important American social history.

The rating is 12 (PG-13 in the US), which slightly surprises me; I’d have thought 15 would be more appropriate. The violent scenes are unpleasant, the scenes of intimacy quite drawn-out (albeit showing nothing explicit) and there’s some bad language, as well as quite disturbing themes. Definitely not for impressionable children or sensitive teens.

But for older teens and adults, definitely recommended.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews