Dr. Jekyll et Ms. Hyde

A so-so film, that does have a few laffs. Basically about a chap who gets left a spell by his great-grandfather that changes him from women to man. I give this film an 8, but only because it does have the gorgeous Lysette Anthony, and she's worth watching in any film...

Richard (Tim Daly) is a descendant of the original Dr. Jekyll. Although he works in a perfume laboratory, he has bigger dreams. Rick lives with a delightful fiancé (Lysette Anthony) but no wedding date has been set. One day, Richard inherits his relatives books and notes, only to stumble upon the secret formula used to create the infamous Mr. Hyde. He mixes up a batch and drinks it. However, Richard is in trouble when his alias turns out to be a conniving woman (Sean Young). Is there a way out of this mess? Fans of romantic comedies will likely be happy to add this to their list of viewing pleasures. Daly, Young, and Anthony are all very attractive performers, with charm oozing everywhere. The rest of the cast is delightful, too, with Jeremy Piven doing his usual good turn. The plot may be silly but it is fun, too. As for the interior of Richard's apartment, it is to die for; one may want to put the VCR on pause to recreate the look. In short, if you like fast, fun films with some kisses thrown in now and again, this one is for you.

I was pretty impressed with the movie, considering it was on almost every critic's Top 10 Worst List the year it came out and did poorly at the box office. It's certainly not a first-class comedy, but it made me laugh. Many of the gags are predictable, but even predictable gags can work at times. In one funny scene, Tim Daly writes on his naked body that he slept with his two male bosses, expecting that he was going to morph into Sean Young at a certain time, the executives would see her and her reputation would be ruined. But he doesn't morph into her, the execs walk in, and he's totally humiliated. An undeniably cheap gag, but funny nonetheless. The cast is good. Tim Daly, despite his experience with comedy on the hit sitcom "Wings," is an unusual choice for this comic lead, but his low-key approach works. I read in the trivia that Jim Carrey was originally going to take on the role. I think if Carrey were to play the role, he would've hammed it up to the extreme, unlike Daly who does a fine job at keeping a straight face in each ridiculous situation. Jeremy Piven is almost always amusing, and he steals the show in the few scenes he's in. Though Sean Young's career has faded lately, she's by no means a no-talent. Not to mention she's quite easy on the eyes. Harvey Fierstein is hilarious as a gay man who suddenly starts having feelings for women, once he meets Ms. Hyde. One thing's for sure: You will never see another movie where Fierstein's in bed, having a post-coital cigarette with a woman. My only minor criticism is that the low production values are pretty obvious. And this is yet another movie that is set in New York, yet doesn't even make an attempt to disguise the fact that it was shot in Canada. Showing establishing shots of the Manhattan skyline just helps prove that it wasn't set in NY.

I'm writing at something of a remove, as I saw this movie a while ago. I watched it because I wanted to see if it was as bad as I'd heard. Well, it lived up to expectations. As well as being ill-conceived, shrill, moronic, humourless, wretched, asinine, irritating and generally amateurish, it was also incredibly misogynistic. I thought (hoped) they didn't make this sort of film any more.

Everyone involved should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves (except maybe Sean Young, who clearly has absolutely no shame). I just don't understand how these films get made. Offensive for pretty much every reason you can think of. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

This is a modernist twist on the classic Stevenson tale, with Tim Daly playing mild-mannered perfume researcher Richard Jacks, who is turned into the stunning (but increasingly lethal) Helen Hyde (played by the gorgeous Sean Young) when he drinks a formula bequeathed to him by his greatgrandfather, Dr. Jekyll. (Are we to assume that this is the ORIGINAL Dr. Jekyll??) Despite a fairly strong cast -- which includes Harvey Fierstein and Stephen Toboloswky as colleagues of Dr. Jacks at the perfumery and Polly Bergen in a scene-stealing turn as an important cosmetics executive --,, some neat morphing technology, and some sporadically hilarious moments, the film does not fulfill the promise of its interesting premise. OK comedy with horror aspects -- but nothing special, I'm afraid...