She-Devil - La Diable

I liked this film. It's a dark comedy about revenge. Apparently it was a star vehicle for Roseanne, and I thought she performed well enough. Meryl Streep really sank her teeth into this role, probably a lot of fun for her, after so many tragic, accented heroines. True, the special(??!!) effects shot of Roseanne walking away from the exploding house was awful, but it was so bad that I wonder if it might have been intentional. If so, I can't understand why, though. One gaping plot hole. Ed Begley, Jr. As an average-looking guy (OK, below average-looking) I can tell you that Begley is not the sort of man that the Meryl Streeps/Mary Fishers of the world fall for on first meeting. Anyway the film is cute. Not great by any means, but worth a viewing.

I thought She-Devil was going to be incredibly stupid, but sometimes having low expectations is the best way to be pleasantly surprised by a movie. It was actually pretty funny, and just like the quirky comedy Death Becomes Her, it was fun to see Meryl Streep letting her hair down and having fun with something light.

Rosanne Barr starts the movie married to Ed Begley, Jr., but when his head gets turned by the famous, glamorous romance novelist Meryl Streep, she loses him. There's always trouble in paradise, and Meryl soon finds that out after she steals Ed away. While she was once known for her novels that swept female readers off to exotic locales, once she becomes more domestic, she changes her writing style. In her new book, Meryl writes of a housewife who fills her day with laundry and cleaning, and her sales take a quick nosedive. Meanwhile, Rosanne isn't ready to take her abandonment lying down, and she plots a revenge scheme that will make both of them sorry they ever met.

If you've ever been a wronged woman, gather up a bunch of girlfriends and pour the cocktails. This one's fun, soapy, and fluffy!

Meryl Streep sparkles in this critically-drubbed adaptation of Fay Weldon's book (previously filmed as a mini-series for British television). Streep plays a Barbara Cartland-like romance novelist who steals the accountant-husband of put-upon housewife Roseanne Barr, who methodically extracts revenge on her spouse and the coolly conniving authoress. Shapeless, rather bedraggled comedy, but Roseanne (to her credit) performs in a lower key here than on television and has a few affecting moments. Streep is a colorful villainess (no surprise), while Sylvia Miles and Linda Hunt do lively work in supporting roles before vanishing once the script no longer has use for them. The one casting mistake is Ed Begley Jr. As Roseanne's cheating husband; Begley gives a good performance, but he and Streep look too much alike (they could be siblings). The movie is episodic and tiresome, but is nearly worth-seeing for Streep's Golden Globe-nominated work; she's deliciously devilish. ** from ****

My goodness, all the negativity about this fun and strangely satisfying flick. Everyone I know really likes this movie and has seen it several times. If we can define how good a film is by how many times we're capable of seeing it, then this movie certainly is praise worthy. I also enjoyed Roseanne's performance every bit as Meryl Streep. And why can't people believe that an actress of Ms. Streep's caliber took on this role? She was wonderful and got to demonstrate a great comedic performance. This movie is just plain fun. If you watch it once, I guarantee you'll watch it again and again.

I always liked watching this movie on tv when I was growing up. Just rewatched it and I still find it to be a damn good time. If you're disgusted by Roseanne (like so many reviewers are) then don't watch a movie that stars Roseanne. It's funny, quirky, a bit dark, and bizarre. I also get flashback fashion love when I watch movies like this.