The first five minutes are fine. And the film's eight-minute musical finale exudes terrific country/western spirit. But, in between, the characters reek of a glossy shallowness characteristic of a script that is not well fleshed out.
Flighty, ungrateful Suzanne Vale (Meryl Streep) is a young actress hooked on drugs, and lorded over by her annoyingly controlling, alcoholic, show-biz mother named Doris Mann (Shirley MacLaine). Their bumpy relationship provides the main thrust to the plot, as pill-popping Suzanne tries to continue her acting, while judgmental Doris imposes herself on Suzanne, as a kind of career counselor. Around these two swirl an assortment of photogenic Hollywood types, who initiate or aggravate various conflicts between Suzanne and Doris.
One would think this setup would imply a drama. Not here. The film tries to be a comedy. Some of the dialogue is indeed funny. But the comedy element contradicts the painful plight of the script's two main characters. In addition to their substance abuse problems, both Suzanne and Doris are so wrapped up in themselves, so self-centered, they're hard to root for.
The film's acting generally is overdone, at times hammy, the most egregious example being Dennis Quaid. Production design is credible. Color cinematography is conventional, but competent.
The story premise had merit. But Director Mike Nichols and writer Carrie Fisher needed to give a little more thought to the characters in this story, all of whom come across as glib, shallow, cosmetic, superficial, devoid of depth. Comedy can indeed be integrated with serious topics. But in the case of "Postcards From The Edge", it needed to be integrated with a little more finesse.
Flighty, ungrateful Suzanne Vale (Meryl Streep) is a young actress hooked on drugs, and lorded over by her annoyingly controlling, alcoholic, show-biz mother named Doris Mann (Shirley MacLaine). Their bumpy relationship provides the main thrust to the plot, as pill-popping Suzanne tries to continue her acting, while judgmental Doris imposes herself on Suzanne, as a kind of career counselor. Around these two swirl an assortment of photogenic Hollywood types, who initiate or aggravate various conflicts between Suzanne and Doris.
One would think this setup would imply a drama. Not here. The film tries to be a comedy. Some of the dialogue is indeed funny. But the comedy element contradicts the painful plight of the script's two main characters. In addition to their substance abuse problems, both Suzanne and Doris are so wrapped up in themselves, so self-centered, they're hard to root for.
The film's acting generally is overdone, at times hammy, the most egregious example being Dennis Quaid. Production design is credible. Color cinematography is conventional, but competent.
The story premise had merit. But Director Mike Nichols and writer Carrie Fisher needed to give a little more thought to the characters in this story, all of whom come across as glib, shallow, cosmetic, superficial, devoid of depth. Comedy can indeed be integrated with serious topics. But in the case of "Postcards From The Edge", it needed to be integrated with a little more finesse.