JUST BE FUNNY: OSCAR, SOAPDISH
the casting director), and gets cast as a homeless mute woman who David plans to have stab Celeste. Except Celeste breaks character and greets her, and it turns out Lori is her niece (except maybe not). Undaunted, David's next idea is to bring back Jeffrey (Kevin Kline), Celeste's ex-boyfriend and a stage actor who's been reduced to doing dinner theater in Florida (one of the film's highlights). Jeffrey agrees, not only to get even with Celeste (she got him fired from a production they were in), but so he can finance his one-man Hamlet. Who will Jeffrey play on the show? Why, a doctor who was decapitated but has miraculously had his head sown back on, of course. Silly question.
That, of course, is not all of the plot. There's a lot more to come, and there seems to be not only convolution upon convolution, but a war between sensibilities. Harling is best known for writing STEEL MAGNOLIAS, a syrupy tearjerker. Bergman, on the other hand, is best known for writing and directing THE FRESHMAN, one of 1990's funniest films, which had a wicked sense of satire. And the two don't always mesh. Still, like I said, there are some big laughs here, even involving a TelePrompter. And if the film is complicated, at least it knows it (at one point, after a shocking revelation, Rose wants to know why she can't make up stuff like this).
I've never been a fan of Field; except for NORMA RAE, when she's in drama, I'm turned off by her earnestness without technique. But with PUNCHLINE and this, she shows a surprising facility for comedy, especially since she's the one with the revelations here. Shue likewise is an actress I'm not a fan of, but she too fits into the spirit of things. Goldberg and Kline, of course, are used to this, and are both predictably fine (Goldberg should especially get credit for playing the lone straight part). And Marshall is quite funny as the exec. But the lion's share of the acting credit should go to Moriarty and Downey. I don't know why Moriarty hasn't had much of a career since her debut in RAGING BULL, because she's got talent, and she shows it here, deliciously playing the comedic villain (as when she nearly chokes David and deadpans, "I'm a victim"). And Downey goes against everyone else here and deadpans his way through the entire movie,
Latest Articles