Betsy's Wedding
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Movie Reviews of Betsy's Wedding
Movie Review: All About Alda
Summary: 3 Stars
Alan Alda, best known for playing Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce in 251 episodes of "M*A*S*H" from 1972 through 1983, wrote, directed, and starred in Betsy's Wedding, based on his own experience when his daughter got married. Poor girl, if her wedding was anything like Betsy's. The movie, like the wedding in the movie, and one assumes, Alda's daughter's wedding, was all about Alda. Alda, like Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce, is a likeable guy--but sometimes a movie doesn't call for a likeable guy. Sometimes an actor has to let go of wanting the audience to like him. And when the actor is also the director, that can be a problem. I have seen Mr. Alda in Woody Allen movies where he is a real jerk. But under his own direction, he succumbs totally to the temptation to make the audience like him at all costs. He does show some evidence of understanding human nature, some self awareness, and one of the things I like about the film is it does show how for instance the husband and wife in a married couple can see things differently--but this is mostly shown with his father, who is deceased but appears as a ghost played by Joey Bishop, and his mother, who have very different opinions of his cooking.
Alda's character, Eddie Hopper, is a happy-go-lucky guy, not so good in business, but at least a semi-successful contractor. You'd think that he'd be good at something, but he is shown to be pretty incompetent, not even able to climb a ladder without courting near catastrophe. This doesn't really seem like the correct personality type for a contractor. I refer you to Cash in As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. That novel, written from multiple perspectives, in the section told from Cash's point-of-view showed a much truer representation of the carpenter personality.
Though Betsy's Wedding walks down the same aisle as Rachel Getting Married, it is a marriage made elsewhere than heaven. Still, as a light hearted farce Betsy's Wedding is more than adequate. I had a few quibbles with Alda's Eddie Hopper; but Madeline Kahn as his wife Lola is always engaging. Joe Pesci as his more successful but lacking a moral compass brother-in-law was suitably annoying. Anthony LaPaglia as Stevie Dee, a mobster's nephew that Oscar gets Eddie tangled up with, was something to see. Ally Sheedy, as Betsy's sister, a police officer who always gets her man, except off duty, where she never gets her man, was cute. Molly Ringwald as Betsy Hopper, a fashion student with a flair for the outrageous, was lovely as usual.
Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy were both considered to be part of the Brat Pack. Funny that in Betsy's Wedding they are joined by Joey Bishop, who was in Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack. Molly will always be known as the Muse of John Hughes, and associated with The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. At the time, the critics were rather harsh about John Hughes and his Brat Packers, but now that Hughes has passed on, The Breakfast Club is now seen as a classic 80's film that defines the era and spoke for its generation.
The bottom line is that I rate it 3 stars, though personally I enjoyed Betsy's Wedding, mainly for Molly and Ally, but Anthony LaPaglia was the real surprise. I winced when I first saw him, but his whacky performance won me over. I see him now in Cold Case, a crime show, but I happened to catch a re-run of Frazier the other night where I saw him as Simon Moon, Daphney's least favorite brother. In Betsy's Wedding he falls hard for Connie, Betsy's sister, played by Sheedy. You will have to see him to believe it, but he really wins over the audience, just like he does with Connie and her father.
Stevie Dee: I could be whatever you need. I could do anything for the woman I love. I believe in saying what you feel. You are the blood in my veins, I would walk through fire for you. I will always be available, I belong to you.
Sweet and Lowdown (1999) Anthony LaPaglia was Al Torrio
Malicious (1995) Molly Ringwald was Melissa Nelson
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) Alan Alda was Lester
Fresh Horses (1988) Molly Ringwald was Jewel
The Pick-Up Artist (1987) Molly Ringwald was Randy Jensen
Pretty in Pink (1986) Molly Ringwald was Andie Walsh
The Breakfast Club (1985) Molly Ringwald was Claire Standish and Ally Sheedy was Allison Reynolds
St. Elmo's Fire (1985) Ally Sheedy was Leslie Hunter
Young Frankenstein (1974) Madeline Kahn was Elizabeth
Ocean's 11 (1960) Joey Bishop was 'Mushy' O'Connors
Connie Hopper: I'm a cop, and you're... not.
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