GOLDIE HAWN: CRISSCROSS, DEATH BECOMES HER, HOUSESITTER
used for some of the better gags, like Madeline's reaction to seeing her body turned around from her fall. For another, the filmmakers aren't afraid to take the joke into different places - for example, other "immortals" like Madeline have faked their own deaths, which leads to some funny look-alike celebrity cameos. And Zemeckis manages the difficult trick of making a live-action cartoon that has the fluidity of a regular cartoon.
Of course, a lot of credit goes to the cast. Streep has the showcase role here, and she gleefully indulges in it, showing not even a hint of vanity even as her character revels in it. Willis perhaps overdoes it a bit as the overexcited husband, but he also seems to be having a lot of fun. And Rossellini is perfect as the villainess of the film. As for Hawn, her character goes through the most changes, and also has a pure streak, and it's to Hawn's credit that she doesn't sentimentalize that. Also, as with Streep, she clearly is having fun with herself (just look at her in the fat suit). DEATH BECOMES HER is very becoming as a black comedy, indeed.
Frank Oz's previous film, WHAT ABOUT BOB? managed the tricky act of taking a horror/thriller premise - the thing (person) that wouldn't leave - and making a comedy out of it. He attempts a similar stunt with HOUSESITTER, but despite, as with BOB, two gifted comic talents in the leads - Hawn and Steve Martin - this film is surprisingly flat.
Martin stars as Newton, an architect who, at the film's beginning, has just built a house for his girlfriend Becky (Dana Delaney), and takes her there to propose to him. When Becky turns him down, he decides to drown his sorrows, and does so in front of Gwen (Hawn), a waitress. Newton takes her to bed and then forgets about her. Gwen, however, has other ideas. She moves into the now empty house and starts passing herself off as Newton's wife. When Newton finds out (particularly after she starts furnishing the house on credit), he goes crazy, but when he discovers Becky finds all of this sexy, he asks Gwen to continue the act so he can get Becky back. Of course, he's really falling for Gwen in the meantime.
As you can tell, this is a comic twist on FATAL ATTRACTION. The problem is you have to be really good
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