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From: lmann@jjmhome.UUCP (Laurie Mann)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: STEEL MAGNOLIAS
Summary: r.a.m.r. #00693
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Date: 7 Jan 90 15:11:03 GMT
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			     STEEL MAGNOLIAS
		       A film review by Laurie Mann
			Copyright 1990 Laurie Mann

     This is a *very* frustrating movie to watch.  You have some wonderful
performances (Sally Field and Julia Roberts), and others that are just so
overdone (Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Tom Skerrit) that they almost seem
to be part of another movie.  You have characters that make mysterious
transformations during the course of the movie, like Darryl Hannah and Sam
Shepard.  You have some clumsy sound editing which left half the audience
wondering why the other half was laughing.

     I basically liked the movie.  I laughed more at this movie more than at
any movie since EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY.  Even though I knew how weepy parts of
the movie would be, I still found myself crying.  There's a moment after her
daughter's funeral when Sally Field suddenly starts reacting with such fury
over the death that she reminded me of her performance in SYBIL.

     Maybe *that's* the problem.  I never got so involved in the movie that I
forgot I was watching a movie.  In films like CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, ALWAYS,
and SAY ANYTHING, I literally forgot I was watching a film at times.  But,
here, Dolly Parton is playing the same good old girl we've seen her play in
many other movies.  Ann Wedgeworth is playing another Southern eccentric.

     The movie takes occasional risks.  Shirley MacLaine has never looked
worse, but it suits her character perfectly.  The relationship between Sally
Field and Julia Roberts is *very* complicated, but it's also pretty believable.

     I think I'd rate the movie about a 7 on the Chuck scale, because though
it's a flawed movie, I found it compelling just the same.  It's so rare to see
the friendships of a number of woman portrayed in a film.  Someone complained
somewhere about the lack of a strong male character anywhere in the picture.
All I can say is: ABOUT TIME!

Laurie Mann   **   harvard!m2c!jjmhome!lmann  ** lmann%jjmhome@m2c.m2c.org
Work: Stratus Computer ** Home: Northboro, MA ** lmann@jjmhome.UUCP	  */