Death Becomes Her
by Robert Zemeckis
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn, Ian Ogilvy, Isabella Rossellini, Meryl StreepDirector: Robert Zemeckis
Brand: Universal Studios
Cinematographer: Dean Cundey
Producer: Robert Zemeckis
Editor: Arthur Schmidt
Producer: Joan Bradshaw
Producer: Steve Starkey
Writer: David Koepp
Writer: Martin Donovan
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-01-20
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of Death Becomes Her
Movie Review: I'll paint your a-s-s and you can paint mine
Summary: 5 Stars
I this movie. "Death Becomes Her" is just such a perfect movie. Because, it is funny, clever and incredibly entertaining. And besides, the entire cast works together especially well, especially Goldie Hawn (Helen Sharp) and Meryl Streep (the one and only, Madeline Ashton.)
"Death Becomes Her" is the story of two incredibly vain, megalomaniacs who each find a perpetual fountain of youth. Courtesy of Lisle von Rhoman (played by the talented and equally beautiful Isabella Rossellini.)
The movie begins with Helen and Dr. Ernest Menville (a very funny Bruce Willis) watching a sublime (and substandard) Broadway performance of an old chum of Helen's; Madeline. (Incidentally, Broadway Shows have nothing to do with the quality of the performance, rather it is a description to describe the number of seats in the theater.) It is soon apparent that Dr. Menville is smitten with Madeline, but he denies it to Helen (his fiance.)
After Dr. Menville marries Madeline (no one saw that coming!,) Helen really goes berserk! She eats herself into an oblivion (Helen especially enjoys those Betty Crocker frosting containers) and has to be carted off to the loony bin kicking and screaming. Goldie was absolutely astounding during these scenes in the movie. Because she totally turned into another person. Not only did she look like a big fat crazy lunatic, but she acted exactly the way anyone would expect!
Fast forward 7 years. Helen has written a book and invites Madeline and Ernest to the release party. Of course Madeline wants to go so she can rub her friend's nose in the fact that she stole her lover. But when Madeline sees how beautiful and young Helen looks she nearly faints! Yup, Goldie changed her look again. This time she was svelte and stunning to look at. Things get even more complicated for Madeline when her young boy-toy takes up with a younger woman!
So, on a whim, Madeline visits Lisle (pronounced like "Lisa") and purchases her fountain of youth. Wasn't it hysterical when Lisle asked Madeline to tell her how old she thought she looked and Madeline said 38! Did you noticed that shocked look on Lisle's face? And, while this is all going on, Helen and Ernest are plotting to kill Madeline and make it all look like an accident. When Madeline comes home and shoots her mouth off one too many times to Ernest he gets enraged and pushes her down the stairs. It was hysterical when Helen said to Ernest, "what part of the plan did you not understand?"
The rest of the movie is a competition between Helen and Madeline to lure Ernest back to each of them. Then when they each realize that he isn't anything special, they decide to get him to drink the same potion as they did. So he can live forever and maintain their upkeep (after all, he's an undertaker!)
It was also so incredibly funny how Madeline and Ernest all of a sudden became a loving couple after he tried to kill her. If that's not complete and utter dysfunction, then I don't know what is! And, of course it was just as funny how Helen and Madeline were both fighting over Ernest because they only desired him because the other wanted him! And, it was even more hysterical how Madeline and Helen would say these incredibly mean-spirited comments to each other then act like the best of friends! These two kooks really fed off he each other so well. Like Baby Jane and Blanche Hudson, Helen and Madeline are destined to be together for the rest of their lives!
If you enjoyed this movie, I also recommend: She-Devil and Overboard.
This movie will put a smile on anyone's face! It's a deliciously fabulous, catty brouhaha from beginning to end!
Summary of Death Becomes Her
DEATH BECOMES HER - DVD MovieIf Robert Zemeckis's mega-hit Forrest Gump was too sweet for your taste, you may enjoy the undiluted bitterness of his previous movie, a cynical black comedy that was ahead of its time. Death Becomes Her, an outlandish parable about America's obsession with youth and vanity, exposes the corrosive side of Zemeckis's comic sensibility, the sort of scathing satirical edge he gleefully flourished in his overlooked 1980 Used Cars, which has developed a cult following. Meryl Streep has a ball as the deliciously vicious Madeline Ashton, a flamboyantly mannered actress who makes Bette Davis's formidable Margo Channing in All About Eve look like a wallflower. Goldie Hawn is also in razor-sharp comedic form as Madeline's long-time "best friend," Helen. Sensing a bargain she just can't resist, Madeline steals Helen's meek, plastic-surgeon husband Ernest (Bruce Willis) for her own convenience, and the two women become sworn enemies. But the real complications arise when the two are introduced to a secret anti-aging formula by a mysterious and exotic woman (Isabella Rossellini, delightfully ridiculous) that not only smoothes away wrinkles but actually guarantees immortality. As their undying bodies are twisted and mutilated by violent attacks on each other, both women grow increasingly dependent on Ernest for cosmetic repair. The pioneering digital effects inflicted on Streep and Hawn are as grotesque as they are imaginative and hilarious. Like James Cameron (The Abyss, Titanic), Zemeckis loves a technical challenge, and the new visual tools developed for this movie made his later work (in Forrest Gump and Contact) possible. --Jim Emerson
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