La femme du boucher

"Marina" (Demi Moore) is an attractive young woman who lives on an isolated island off the Carolina coast and is both single and-as it turns out-clairvoyant. So that being the case, one day she becomes overjoyed with a vision she receives which has her future husband coming to the island on a rowboat. Sure enough, not long afterward she finally gets to see the supposed man of her dreams in person and he turns out to be nothing like she had imagined. But being convinced of her vision she marries "Leo Lemke" (George Dzundza) and goes off to New York City with him. Yet even though she tries to be the best wife possible she finds it difficult to keep her visions to herself and that's when things get extremely interesting to everyone living around her. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a pretty good comedy which kept my interest from start-to-finish. Admittedly, it had some slow scenes here and there but it definitely had its moment and I thought that Demi Moore played her role to near perfection. Be that as it may, I thought that this was a refreshing, little comedy and have rated it accordingly. Above average.

Plot in a Nutshell: Clairvoyant Marina (Demi Moore) impulsively marries Leo the butcher, moves with him to New York City and begins to change people's lives for the better with her 'homespun' but sage advice - much to the annoyance of their psychiatrist (Jeff Daniels).

Why I rated it a "7": It's charming and cute. Doesn't try to be something it's not. This is no Oscar contender, but then it was never intended to be. Falls squarely in the "Rom-Com" and "Chick Flick" genres, but does so comfortably. The supporting cast shines - especially Mary Steenburgen and George Dzundza. There is enough light comedy to keep the pace moving. Seeing Demi Moore with long, blonde, permed hair was a twist. I saw this years ago and remembered liking it. Seeing it again recently did not change my opinion, it's still harmless fun.

Best Line: Leo (to Dr. Tremor): "Stop (messing) with my life!" Dr. Tremor: "I never touched her!"

Would I watch again (Y/N)? Yes.

What a treat to catch this movie on a HD channel recently; yes, it is "Schlocky-wood", but it's done as a carefully crafted ensemble piece. And what an ensemble! The cast has some great moments, especially for Demi Moore and Jeff Daniels. But there are some "characters in the background" who would become well known for performances yet to come (e.g., Frances McDormand in "Fargo" and Miriam Margoyles as Prof. Sprout in the Harry Potter series). This is an enjoyable, humorous, ironic, feel-good movie... you surely won't have to apologize for crude language or over-the-top violence in any scene (well, you will have to get used to Demi's full length blonde hair, and after "G. I. Jane" that may be tough to do).

few drops of fairy tale. few clichés from classic romantic comedies. Demi Moore in a role with high potential and decent solutions. different family/personal crisis. solutions who remind old truth. nothing new. but a nice story about magic, expectations, true love. useful after a long work day. and for the fans of Demi Moore. boring for the predictability. because the few ornaments not are so attractive for ignore an old story, sweet, pink, lovely but far to be great about dreams and their clash with reality, compromises and the happiness as result of self definition. the different stories are a not bad spice. and the performances are far to be bad. but , after its end, the strong feeling - it deserves be better- is the basic gift from this version of fairy tale.

I think that Demi Moore was bold to go with the little known Ocracoke, NC accent because most people will probably (wrongly) think that she was doing a very bad job at a North Carolinian/Southern USA accent.

Ocracoke is a small, fisherman's island at the bottom of the North Carolina Outer Banks island chain and is only accessible by ferry. This isolation has kept the accent there mostly unaltered since the 17th century days when it was inhabited by British seamen. The Ocracoke accent sounds like a mixture of Brit and Yank, so what you hear Demi Moore doing in this movie is really quite accurate.

I also enjoyed the cozy portrayal of the Manhattan (NYC) side street neighborhood life. The NYC avenues tend to be wide, impersonal and busy, but the narrower, townhouse and small shop filled side streets can be quite friendly. It gives me some nice, childhood nostalgic memories to see the happier, day-to-day aspect of NYC life shown in this film.

I watch this romantic comedy whenever it is on TV, and I have no complaints about it at all. I find it to be a sweet, feel-good film with occasional hints at magic realism, but without plunging too far into that iffy genre.

I feel that all the players did good jobs, and that the locations and settings felt very true. Nice production values too.

If you like "Moonstruck", then you will probably like "The Butcher's Wife" too.