Worth Watching Just to Watch Whoopie!

Rating: 8/10 (23 June 2014)

With an opportunity to see the Broadway production of the musical, I thought it would be good to revisit the original with my family. I saw this in a movie theater on its first run and came away with some mixed feelings. I guess if you accept the premise that one can be caught in a kind of purgatory, stuck between heaven and hell, then you can also accept that there are demons that come up from hell and pull the bad guys down. I thought that a less clichéd view of the spiritual cosmos and not a hackneyed Dante-esque one would have been more effective, but then I have no belief in fire pits and angels playing harps. The story itself is quite fun with Patrick Swayze killed so that his trusted colleague can embezzle money, using accounts Swayze has access to. Swayze lives with Demi Moore (who is a knockout) and they have had trouble committing. Once dead, he is able to move about and observe all that is happening. He also becomes part of a fraternity of dead people stuck in the same place (apparently, they haven't settled their scores). As he watches he realizes that his lover is in danger from his murderer and his "friend." Swayze engages a medium, played by Whoopie Goldberg in an Academy Award performance, to try to connect with Demi. She can hear him, but can't see him. It takes time for him to break down the barriers of distrust and apprehension (what would we do?). He learns from one of the other dead guys how to make things move through mental effort, and he uses this to his advantage. Of course, one has to mention the famous scene with the sculpting of the gigantic phallic symbol while the Righteous Brothers sing "Unchained Melody." The other memorable scene is the one where Whoopie is in the bank and Swayze is telling her what to say as she withdraws four million dollars from an account. It's certainly worth a look if you've not seen it.