Product: Postcards from the Edge [VHS] (1990)
Rating: 5.0
Great performances all around
This is a great vehicle for Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine, with cameos thrown in by Richard Dreyfus, Gene Hackman, Dennis Quaid and Rob Reiner, and a small role for Annette Bening (who was not well known at the time). The second time I saw it on its original release, in Orange County, CA, my friend and I were the only ones laughing through the whole movie. (Did the audience think it was a documentary?) Now it's the movie I watch whenever I need a pick me up. The movie satirizes Hollywood and show business, but also reflects (in a funny way) on their impact on the real lives of the people within that bubble. The best part about movie though is Streep's two musical numbers - the first, "You Don't Know Me," reluctantly sung at the insistence of MacLaine's character at a surprise party, and a rousing "I'm Checkin' Out" (from this heartbreak hotel) at the end -- are wonderful. Of course the writing by Carrie Fisher is what makes the movie. (This movie led to her career as a "script doctor" in Hollywood.) One of my favorite movies.