Postcards from the edge (Meryl Streep)

(Amazon UK link)

I sometimes spend a few minutes browsing Amazon’s ‘recommendations’ to me, based on films I have bought. I always read the blurbs and usually one or two negative reviews before adding something to my wishlist. We have a lot of films, so I’m quite picky, now, about choosing any more. ‘Postcards from the edge’ stars Meryl Streep, and features several other well-known actors, and was mostly positively reviewed. I added it to my list, and was given it for my recent birthday. 

So last night we decided to watch it. The image on the front and general feeling suggest a comedy of some kind. But I didn’t look at the blurb on the back, and had forgotten what I read on Amazon. So I had no idea what to expect. 

The film opens with a dramatic scene. A helicopter descends, someone leaps out, then Meryl Streep and two friends are stopped at a border, and she is accused of something terrible. However, it would be a spoiler to say what happens next, as the surprise is cleverly done.

Streep’s character is called Suzanne, who must be in her late twenties, no more than thirty. She could easily have passed for twenty-four or twenty-five, despite the fact that Streep herself must have been over forty when this film was made in 1990. And once again, this versatile, brilliant actor becomes the character, in a way that few others manage. When we watch a film with Meryl Streep, we barely remember her in other roles, as each one is so different, and she manages them all to perfection.

Suzanne, we quickly learn, is a struggling actress who has a problem with drugs. After a nasty incident, she ends up in rehab and we meet her mother Doris, who is a perfectly made up Shirley MacLaine. It’s evident that the two have something of a difficult relationship; Doris tries hard to be loving and non-judgemental, but she can’t keep it up for long. And she is forever talking over her daughter, convinced she knows best what she should be doing. 

The subject matter is a serious issue, not one that would normally be turned into a light-hearted film. Apparently this is based on a true story, although it may well be quite loosely based. Suzanne works hard to be free of her habit, taking up smoking instead. Doris is an alcoholic, though she seems mostly to have her drinking under control. And Suzanne is chased rather determinedly by a somewhat pushy young man called Jack (Dennis Quaid).

Into the mix comes Doris’s own mother, whose name I didn’t learn, but she’s played by Mary Wickes: an overbearing, judgemental, loud and critical woman. I didn’t like ‘Grandma’ at all. Her husband has dementia and keeps complaining about her in a way that I thought was bittersweet: he is able to say what other people are thinking, in a somewhat amusing way; yet his condition is not one to take lightly or joke about. 

There are some insights into the stresses and pressures that go into making movies - or did, in the 1980s; I don’t know how much it has changed since then. It is perhaps caricatured, but almost certainly has some truth in the horrors and degradations, and the way some actors are (or were) treated. 

The acting is superbly done, the pace just right and the story well told. I didn’t know some of the actors, but I recognised Simon Callow’s distinctive voice before seeing his character. On the other hand I didn’t spot Richard Dreyfuss as a doctor. 

There’s some singing, too; Doris, in her younger days, was apparently a stage singer, and Suzanne has an amazing voice too, though she doesn’t want to give in to her mother’s pressure to be a singer rather than an actor. 

I wasn’t sure I was going to like the film in the first twenty minutes or so, but I quickly became absorbed and overall thought it excellent. The rating is 15 which reflects some ‘strong’ language and the drug theme, though by today’s more relaxed standards it might be reduced to 12. 

Recommended if you like quite hard-hitting dramas with some light-hearted moments, or if you’re a fan of Meryl Streep. 

x Review copyright 2025 Sue's DVD Reviews

Yours, Mine and Ours (Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo)

(Amazon UK link)

We were fairly tired, and wanted something light-hearted and undemanding to watch. We hadn’t seen ‘Yours, Mine & Ours’ for about ten years. Having checked my previous review, I am puzzled as last time we apparently saw the original 1968 version with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. Perhaps we saw it at someone else’s house and then bought the more recent version for ourselves.

The story appears to be the same, although if we previously saw a different version, that would explain why it didn’t feel at all familiar. Dennis Quaid is the rather militant admiral Frank in this version, which was produced in 2006. 

Frank was widowed a few years before the story opens, and runs his family - with eight children - in a highly structured naval fashion. They move regularly, and are rather fed up of constant changes, with new accommodation and schools to get used to.

Frank is contrasted with the bohemian designer Helen (Rene Russo) who is also widowed, and has ten children: six of them adopted. Her household is somewhat crazy, but there’s a lot more affection and fun than appears to be the case in Frank’s home.

It turns out that Frank and Helen were high school sweethearts, although they had lost touch many years earlier. They bump into each other when they are both out on dates with other people, and they get together at a high school reunion cruise.

The bulk of the film follows events when the two families move in together, to an abandoned lighthouse which needs a great deal of renovation. There are inevitable clashes. Frank produces schedules and structure, Helen encourages free expression and creativity. The children don’t want new step-siblings but their battles - some of them quite amusing, with cleverly choreographed slapstick scenes - only serve to draw their parents closer to each other, albeit worried about the future.

It’s predictable in an overall sense, of course, but it’s nicely done. It manages to feel a tad dated despite the teenagers having cell phones, but most of the humour is timeless. Some of it is a tad extreme, which is probably why this film has a PG rather than U rating. I didn’t notice any profanities, and there are no scenes of nudity or adult intimacy, other than a little kissing now and then.

There’s nothing deep in this film, and the extras aren’t particularly interesting, but it made a good evening’s undemanding viewing, with a few places where we laughed out loud. We didn't get to know any of the children individually and I had forgotten all their names by the time the film ended; there are four teenagers, and some young twins who are perhaps five, as well as all ages in between.

Recommended if you want to see something light-hearted - and unless you are very particular, there’s nothing unsuitable for children.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's DVD Reviews

Dinner with Friends (Andie MacDowell, Dennis Quaid)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m not entirely sure why this DVD was recommended to me by Amazon. However, the blurb and reviews made it sound interesting, so it went on my wishlist, and I was given it for my birthday a few months ago. Last night we decided, along with an adult son, to watch it. I chose it out of the selection he was looking at because it was the shortest, and I was tired…

‘Dinner with Friends’ is apparently based on a play of the same name. This makes a great deal of sense in retrospect. It was originally made for TV, back in 2001. There are only four significant characters, which is quite unusual in a film. Karen (Andie MacDowell) and Gabe (Dennis Quaid) are the main pair. They’ve been married for about twelve years, and work together as food photographers and reporters. They have recently returned from a trip abroad, and we meet them when they, and their young sons, are expecting their closest friends to dinner.

Beth (Toni Collette) arrives in pouring rain, along with her two children. But her husband Tom (Greg Kinnear) is not with her. She makes an excuse but it’s clear that there’s a problem. Gabe and Karen seem remarkably unobservant and tactless, and she eventually breaks down and admits that he’s left her, after falling in love with a travel agent called Nancy….

The rest of the story is about Gabe and Karen coming to terms with this shock, and re-evaluating their own relationship. We hear Tom’s side of the story, and then there’s a lengthy flashback to the time when Gabe and Karen were newly married, and looking forward to their two close friends getting to know each other….

The first half hour or so was really quite depressing, full of angst, and not at all the kind of light-hearted story I was expecting. Perhaps I should have read the blurb on the back rather than merely the length. But as it progressed, I found myself caught up in the lives of these two couples. There’s not a great deal of plot; it’s an exploration of character and relationships. I found it to be realistic, on the whole. Neither couple is portrayed as ideal, and even the best of marriages is shown to have tensions, misunderstandings and some anger.

While Karen’s strongly Southern accent is a little difficult to understand at times, she gives a great performance. The chemistry between her and Gabe works extremely well. Tom, too, is mostly convincing, but we found Beth a little fake at times. As a young bohemian artist she is believable; towards the end, having lunch with Karen, she is also authentic. But we couldn’t quite believe in her grief-stricken and angry phase, which is the main part of the movie.

The children have occasional bit parts which are realistic, and they all did well in a film which, presumably, they weren’t able to see in its entirety as it’s not intended for children. I didn’t find any of it humorous, though there were odd mildly amusing moments, mostly connected with the children.

I didn’t like the amount of bad language, which is probably what gives this a 15 rating in the UK, and R in the stricter United States. There’s a fair amount of discussion about sexual issues too, which would also make this unsuitable for children or younger teens, but there’s nothing explicit, nor any nudity, and the one mildly violent scene is not particularly disturbing.

I can’t imagine that the content would be of interest to anyone younger than about twenty or so anyway as it’s essentially all about marriage, long-term friendship, and growing older.

I found the ending encouraging and positive, and by that stage was completely engrossed in it.

No extras.

Review copyright 2016 Sue's DVD Reviews