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Title: Death Becomes Her (1992)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Meryl Streep | ... | Madeline Ashton | |
| Bruce Willis | ... | Ernest Menville | |
| Goldie Hawn | ... | Helen Sharp | |
| Isabella Rossellini | ... | Lisle Von Rhuman | |
| Ian Ogilvy | ... | Chagall | |
| Adam Storke | ... | Dakota | |
| Nancy Fish | ... | Rose | |
| Alaina Reed-Hall | ... | Psychologist (as Alaina Reed Hall) | |
| Michelle Johnson | ... | Anna | |
| Mary Ellen Trainor | ... | Vivian Adams | |
| William Frankfather | ... | Mr. Franklin | |
| John Ingle | ... | Eulogist | |
| Clement von Franckenstein | ... | Opening Man | |
| Petrea Burchard | ... | Opening Woman | |
| Jim Jansen | ... | Second Man | |
In 1978, in Broadway, the decadent and narcissist actress Madeline Ashton is performing Songbird, based on Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. Then she receives her rival Helen Sharp, who is an aspiring writer, and her fiancé Ernest Menville, who is a plastic surgeon, in her dressing-room. Soon Menville calls off his commitment with Helen and marries Madeline. Seven years later, Helen is obese in a psychiatric hospital and obsessed in seeking revenge on Madeline. In 1992, the marriage of Madeline and Menville is finished and he is no longer a surgeon but an alcoholic caretaker. Out of the blue, they are invited to a party where Helen will release her novel Forever Young and Madeline goes to a beauty shop. The owner gives a business card of the specialist in rejuvenation Lisle Von Rhuman to her. When the envious Madeline sees Helen thin in a perfect shape, she decides to seek out Lisle and buys a potion to become young again. Further, she advises that Madeline must take care of ... Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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There is so much greatness in this unexpected Hollywood comedy that the cheap shots are really cheap and, quite frankly, unbearable. Buried somewhere between the special effects (extraordinary by the way) is one the wittiest satires to come out of Hollywood in many, many moons. Meryl Streep is sensational and Bruce Willis is, I swear, unrecognizable in the best possible way. The movie hits the highest moments when, for instance, Meryl asks Isabella Rossellini how much the magic potion costs and Isabella replays: "Oh the sordid topic of coin" sublime, exquisite, funny but with enormous regard for its audience. But when Bruce calls Goldie Hawn to explain the "incident" at home he goes through a TV style monologue that seems to belong to a sit-com and not to the elegant vulgarity of this three sad, magnificent wannabees. The dialog, for the most part, is the best in any American serious comedy since Billy Wilder. The structure of the script is flawless and inventive. The costumes are atrocious and certain scenes seem directed by a 3rd assistant. I don't know how to explain it. However, I have it, I own it and sometimes I put it on with my finger in the fast forward. What's good is so good that makes the whole thing really worth it.