Between Friends

For crying out loud, all the orevious reviewers here are soap opera fans that screem at their television sets obviously. This novel's adaptation, the casting, the cinematography, the rythm of the piece all combine to hit the nail on the head for the time. It spoke to USA women who were considered successful for their generation having to grapple middle-age and a changing world.

I liked this movie well enough, but pretty sure I prefer the similarly titled Mary Tyler Moore film from three years later, "Just Between Friends". The characters in that were more likable to me, not that the stories were the same, but close enough that I started comparing them in my mind. Besides that, I just find latter-day Mary more likable than most in general. Nothing against Liz or Carol, but while watching this, I was missing Mary.

As for the storyline itself, meh. It didn't make me laugh, it didn't make me cry, it hardly made me smile. Just meh. I will say that the teen daughter in this was very irritating though, so I guess there's that- irritation. On another, some lines of dialogue from Carol and Liz (the blood sisters talk, the sex talk) were very Joan Jett, and I appreciated that. But otherwise meh. I am quite fond of Carol and Liz though, and this is definitely worth seeing for them- which is why I can't give it any less than 6 stars- and am tempted to give it even more.

I mean no offense to Carol Burnett, but I don't find her an attractive woman, in any way. Obviously, she disagrees with my assessment, otherwise she wouldn't have taken the lead role in Between Friends. In the HBO movie, she plays a single mother who willingly engages in affairs with married men. She's continually referred to as beautiful, sexy, irresistible, and a volcano in the sack-a-roo. If you're confused by that, you will be befuddled when you learn the second lead in the film, a meek woman who wants to marry and be taken care of, is played by Elizabeth Taylor. Did the casting director switch the paperwork? For the life of me, I don't understand why the two women didn't switch roles.

I'm not trying to be mean, but it just didn't work for me. Liz did a very good job in a role that's against type; she's far from calculating, a little stupid, and finds sex with her sweetie-pie repellent. But when watching Carol's scenes, you can practically smell her ego as she announces to the television, "See! I am sexy!" and it just doesn't work. Plus, in the scenes when she's not in the bedroom, her character's personality is pretty lousy. She yells at people and has no sympathy or tolerance for people who don't want to blindly take her orders.

If that type of movie appeals to you, I'll offer one more warning: There is no plot to this movie. It's a movie about two women who meet by chance, and disjointed scenes are strung together to show the audience that they remain friends in the years to come. No plot and no point. No bueno for me.

BETWEEN FRIENDS was an HBO-TV movie that brought together two show biz legends- Elizabeth Taylor and Carol Burnett, for the first time in this shallow but watchable film about two women who run into each other (literally) and become best friends in the blink of an eye. Burnett's character, if memory serves, is a divorced real estate agent with a daughter, currently having an affair with a married man and who, since her divorce has drifted from one man to another and that suits her fine because "nobody makes her cry" anymore. Elizabeth Taylor is a sheltered woman on the verge of a divorce who has no idea how to live by herself, meet a man, or act on a date. Granted, it is fun watching these two show biz icons share the screen, but the script leaves a lot to be desired...these two women have absolutely nothing in common and their becoming best friends makes no sense and it is definitely stretching credibility to have Burnett playing the aging sex kitten who floats from affair to affair and Taylor as the woman who doesn't know how to even meet a man. But if you're a fan of the two actresses, it's worth a look.

Carol Burnett makes a far less convincing dramatic actress than, say, Mary Tyler Moore. Her rubbery face and jaunting jaw are tailor-made for comedy, but those slightly googly features freeze up when she attempts drama. She becomes prim and pinched, and a Carol Burnett without color and comic pizazz is slightly disconcerting. Playing a somewhat loose woman who becomes unlikely friends with an ex-society broad (Elizabeth Taylor), Burnett attempts to mine dramatic territory while keeping her comedic instincts in check, yet it's a gamble that doesn't pay off. Taylor and Burnett are an odd pairing--their acting styles are dissimilar, to say the least--but Liz comes off better, using her braying brand of humor to an amusing effect. The film is cable-TV sludge that has been justly forgotten, but the memory of it sticks with me whenever I see a comic actor or actress attempting to be Olivier, for no other purpose on Earth except to show us their dreaded "range".