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Postcards from the Edge (1990)

Director:
Mike Nichols
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Comedy/Drama
NORWEGIAN TITLE
Hilsen fra Hollywood
RUNNING TIME
101 minutes
Producer:
John Calley
Mike Nichols
Screenwriter (based on her book):
Carrie Fisher


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Suzanne Vale Meryl Streep
Doris Mann Shirley MacLaine ½
Jack Faulkner Dennis Quaid ½
Lowell Kolchek Gene Hackman
Dr. Frankenthal Richard Dreyfuss
Joe Pierce Rob Reiner
Grandma Mary Wickes
Grandpa Conrad Bain
Evelyn Ames Annette Bening ½
Simon Asquith Simon Callow
Marty Wiener Gary Morton
Julie Marsden C. C. H. Pounder
Aretha Robin Bartlett
Carol Barbara Garrick
George Lazan Anthony Heald
Wardrobe Mistress Dana Ivey
Neil Bleene Oliver Platt

 

Review

Carrie Fisher's semi-autobiographical story about an underachieving, middle-aged Hollywood starlet struggling with drug-addiction (Meryl Streep) and her alcoholic mother who cannot quite handle her faded stardom (Shirley MacLaine) rings true in several ways. As directed by Mike Nichols, it's a satirical, lighthearted mocking of some of Hollywood's least glamorous characteristics, even if that ultimately means an inevitable self-mockery as well. The film's most valuable asset, in addition to Fisher's wealth of caustic one-liners and comebacks written for the Streep character, is the relation between the mother and the daughter, which is drenched in an often warm but hopeless melancholy. You'll find yourself feeling for these characters, even though they're not sympathetic enough to really care for. Streep shows off her abundance of talent despite being slightly miscast, whereas MacLaine is very much in her right element. Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman and Richard Dreyfuss contribute with fine supporting roles, but it's a young Annette Bening who steals the show with her one scene with Streep.

Copyright © 13.08.2019 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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