Death Becomes Her (1992)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Zemeckis' black comedy seems oddly old-fashioned, reminiscent less of Roger Rabbit and Back to the Future than of '40s screwball and horror spoofs. When fading star Madeline (Streep) finds that Ernest (Willis), the plastic surgeon fiancé of her friend Helen (Hawn), is besotted by her tarnished glamour, her vanity demands that she marry this wimp who can restore her looks. Years later, 'Hell' plots revenge, and all is set for a bitching battle of Baby Jane proportions; but what finally drags the murderous trio into a maelstrom is the Faustian pact Madeline makes with Lisle Van Rhuman (Rossellini) in return for an elixir of eternal youth. Sporadically very funny indeed, the script features some nicely wicked one-liners, which are well complemented by Zemeckis' sight gags and by performances of great gusto. Far from sophisticated in its satire of narcissism, but enormous fun.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Producer: Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn, Isabella Rossellini, Ian Ogilvy, Adam Storke, Nancy Fish, Alaina Reed Hall, Michelle Johnson full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 104 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.



What do you think?
Post your review now