On the Edge

Actresses Helen Mirren, Mary Stuart Masterson and Anne Heche make their directorial premiers in this three-story movie. The ladies were able to score some high powered acting help to give this a major motion picture feel.

The short stories are kind of like the twilight zone in their feel--odd sci-fi stories that defy reality. Of the three stories, I liked the first one by Helen Mirren titled "Happy Birthday" the best. It had the best story--a funny future world where people are stratified by potential--and the best actors. John Goodman and David Hyde-Pierce are hilarious, and Sydney Tamiia Poitier is gorgeous. The other two stories are less exciting.

One interesting thing: check out the very short cameo by Ellen Degeneres in "Reaching Normal" written and directed by Anne Heche. Very interesting. It makes one wonder if this movie hasn't been sitting on the shelf for a year or more.

Also, if there is such a thing any more as an Andie MacDowell fan, check this flick out. She's looking great and sexy in "Reaching Normal."

Not a feature, but three short stories loosely connected by a fourth. All share a common theme of examining relationships, but these are not "normal" relationships. Males are typically portrayed as angst-ridden, overly controlling stereotypes, in the context of society, business, or science, gone wrong, while it is a woman who becomes the healer, bringing them back to a deeper appreciation of relationships and social values. But this is the "Outer Limits" take on the yin-yang debate, and the stories-within-a-story tend to have a Twilight Zone quality.

Actually, each of the sub-stories is good enough to stand on its own, and none of them benefits from being connected to the forth. The fourth one tries to "set us up" for them with all the subtlety and eloquence of near "Mystery Science Theatre" hokum, which tends to be more distracting than helpful. Its characters are cartoonish and its storyline an obvious contrivance. We learn nothing from the connecting story to justify its inclusion, and hence we are left "on the edge" of missing the point of the much better stories it attempts to link together.

At first glance, On the Edge appears to be a light comedy or romance. A smiling Andie McDowell appears on the cover. However, although there is a bit of both in each of the three connected films in this work, there is much, much more. The film begins with an overbearing movie executive being made to watch film footage by his equally determined secretary. The first story concerns a woman named Hannah in the near future. It is Hannah's birthday but her day is anything but celebrative, at first. The population of earth is very large and a central computer decides everyone's fate. You are a student, a worker, or you are given an "adjustment", which means you have something done to your brain that makes you happy despite having no future prospects of employment. Hannah is dropped as a student and is too educated for most jobs available. Will she concede to an adjustment? In the second story, an intelligent doctor is dying of cancer. He experiments in making a duplicate of himself which will, in essence, allow him to live longer. But, even where genes are identical, are two people the same? And, if an old love returns, which one of you will fall in love with her? The third and final segment is about "metaphysical" love, in this case a love that supersedes space and time. Is it possible to romance someone else while you are at home with your husband the whole time? What an interesting topic, to say the least. If you somehow come in contact with this movie, do not hesitate to sit down and watch it. Although the first story is the best one, all three are something special. The ensemble of actors here is superb and the scripts, costumes, settings, and concepts are all wonderful. You might be viewing "on the edge" to experience this film, but its unique qualities make for a great change of pace in cinematic fare.

This is one of those amazing movies you get lucky and catch in the middle of the night. This just so happened to be on TV and it caught my eye because it seemed very clever. There's a certain real quality about it that fresh directors really give you. Its sci-fi, a genre not explored enough recently and they do a good job of bringing you back Twilight Zone style. The introductions to the films, although cheesy, are still clever. You see here's the deal...

There's this business executive scrooge type, and his secretary decides to teach him a lesson she's going to hit him over the head with a phone and make him watch short films. This is very funny because it makes no sense but serves a very funny old-school approach to introducing really good films. The mistake? They tried to make it into a connected story with ending it in the end. After the 3rd short movie they should have killed him or done something really quick. Instead it comes across as a women's rights thing, and what's up with the secretary's head in the upper left corner? I mean I know they had to show she was listening, but don't you think that was a little-bit too much like a phone card commercial? I don't know, maybe I'm just a guy but her sitting in the corner while the formerly powerful executive now quivered to his wife just made me feel like it was a women's right commercial. It really took away from the other three movies because it's the last thing you remember. That made me sad, but it was also very funny. I just wish the ending wasn't so trite.

AS for the other three short films, they really are quite good. The secretary or whoever does a good job that's like the Crypt Keeper from Tales from the Crypt but really keeps it on a Twilight Zone level. The first film really grabbed me, because in this Big Brother age, how far are we from the government issuing lobotomies? I mean they said we'd never make a Terminator like being and look at the AI coming out kids! The first movie really grabs you and the cameos really impress anyone enough to stay. I really say give this movie a shot, if it was in theaters it could really have a cult following but as it is... its just really good!