Les veuves joyeuses

One would think that if you're going to make a movie about 3 widowed friends, you'd either want to make it serious and somber or hysterically funny. Unfortunately, The Cemetery Club is neither and it exists in some weird in between place where you keep waiting to move or laugh.

Obviously inspired by female centered tear jerkers like Terms of Endearment or Steel Magnolias, The Cemetery Club never quite achieves take off and is never funny or moving enough to be memorable like those other films.

You can't say the cast isn't great though. With Ellen Burstyn, Diane Ladd, and Olympia Dukakis, The Cemetery Club should be a lot better than it is and it lets down these fine women at every turn. Burstyn probably fares the best as she's given the most to do and it least gets one good scene where she talks about her dead husband on a date with a potential suitor (Danny Aiello).

After 39 years of marriage, still-attractive music store owner Ellen Burstyn (as Esther Moskowitz) loses her husband to a heart attack. While paying her respects, Ms. Burstyn meets cop-turned-cab-driver Danny Aiello (as Benjamin "Ben" Katz ) in the Pittsburgh cemetery where their loved ones rest in peace. Burstyn and her friends have formed "The Cemetery Club" to mourn their dead husbands; the more traditionally inclined Olympia Dukakis (as Doris Silverman) masters the widow role, but Diane Ladd (as Lucille Rubin) seeks greener pastures. Inactive club member Lainie Kazan (as Selma) is most eager to dig up an new husband. Tired of her cemetery visits, Ms. Ladd shouts, "I refuse to be in a club where half the members are dead!" One of the film's consistently least affected performers, Burstyn wavers along the spectrum.

****** The Cemetery Club (2/3/93) Bill Duke ~ Ellen Burstyn, Danny Aiello, Olympia Dukakis, Diane Ladd

Well, the description on this thing sure didn't sell me, but OLYMPIA DUKAKIS ! I've never NOT liked a movie with OLYMPIA D! (gotta see her in Moonstruck, Steel Magnolias, and of course, Tales of the City). This one also has Danny Aiello, also from Moonstruck. Cemetery opens with a senior citizen couple getting married, and the crowd is telling old jokes. You can tell they are all good longtime friends, Happy Times. Speaking of Moonstruck, the cute little old couple that ran the Italian deli is in here too, as well as the "inconceivable" guy. But suddenly, people are croaking! that took a quick turn for the dark side. Lots of old Jewish jokes. some funny stuff. swearing, laughs, arguments. Ellen Burstyn seems to get top billing, but is pretty low key in this. Anyone familiar with Jewish traditions, passive aggressive behavior, or just spending time in manhattan will appreciate the humor here. some funny stuff! Love Olympia - she totally saves this, with her dry sarcastic wit. Never heard anything about this back in 1993, but it IS on DVD. Directed by Bill Duke, who directed a TON of TV in the 1980s, then started directing films in the 1990s.

Written by Ivan Menchell, as a play. Not much info available on him. Has done a lot of TV. Quite Good. I've never seen this on TV, so you'll probably have to find it on DVD, but it IS pretty good. I'll have to see it again, since i'm sure i've missed many references watching it the first time.

Three lady-friends, Jewish widows in their 60s, grieve together, laugh together, attend weddings and funerals together--but when one of the gals thinks she's found a decent man, the other two interfere out of jealousy or fear (or maybe a bit of both). Screenwriter Ivan Menchell, adapting his play, delivers a collection of lightly dramatic and comedic episodes which result in a half-hearted sitcom--a Jewish "Golden Girls"--and nobody involved with the picture looks as though they had great hopes for it. Possibly hoping to target the "Moonstruck" crowd, director Bill Duke plays on our nostalgic feelings for a cast of familiar faces, warmly sentimental music on the soundtrack, and antiquated comic shtick which may strike some TV viewers as funny (it's The Rerun Club). For a few brief moments, Ellen Burstyn and Danny Aiello create a nice romantic rapport, but her introduction to him (fighting with a groundskeeper and being bitten in the leg!) is a gag that even Mel Brooks might have passed on. Menchell is awfully fond of meet-cutes and warmly bitchy put-downs, and Burstyn has to struggle to carve out an interesting character (it doesn't help that she's weighed down with wigs and scarves and jackets). With its teary-eyed laughter and fake Jewish come-on, the movie appears to be a total fraud; however, there was the germ of a good idea here, particularly with Aiello's cab-driver (he's actually more interesting than the women). Diane Ladd and Olympia Dukakis are certainly capable, but Duke's inconsistent rhythm and indecisive narrative puts a wall around these people--we don't even know for sure if these are likable people, so generic is the writing and handling. ** from ****

It's enough of an accomplishment to see a movie about late-middle age women in our culture of youth, youth, and more youth. "The Cemetery Club" isn't going to be the most memorable movie you ever see, but it's a nice way to spend a couple of hours. Diane Ladd, one of the more underused and underrated actresses in the business, in particular turns in a nice performance.