Rich spoiled brat Ally Sheedy pisses her dad Tom Skerritt off so much he wishes she'd never been born. In steps fairy godmother Beverly D'Angelo to try and help by giving Ally the George Bailey treatment. In a world in which she never existed, she must now work for a living and learn valuable lessons about...I don't know, being poor or something. Anyway she comes out a better person in the end, even if it does feel light-switched. It's not a great movie but it is watchable. For a comedy it's not terribly funny and all it has to say philosophically could be written on the head of a pin. Still, the cast is excellent (far better than it deserves). Ally does a decent job but, if you weren't a fan of hers before, this is unlikely to make you one. Valerie Perrine and Dick Shawn are fun as the weirdo rich couple who hire her as their maid simply because "It's so difficult to find good white help these days." Beverly D'Angelo is great as the fairy godmother. There's a little bit of Cinderella referencing in this, particularly near the end, but I'm not sure why. The story doesn't really follow that path but I suppose if you reworked Cinderella to be about one of the wicked stepsisters it might work. Oh and prepare yourself for the worst scene in the movie, where Merry 'Gimme Shelter' Clayton wows all the rich white people with a dreadful '80s cover of "The Shoop Shoop Song."
Review of Maid to Order
