Soapdish (1991) User Reviews

Genuinely funny movie

[vulture · 8/10 · 18 May 2000]

Soapdish may go down as one of the single most under-rated movies ever made.

A stellar, unselfish cast who understood exactly where the movie was going and the roles they played in it. While everyone hammed it up, there was no one-upmanship. Kline showed wit and great physical comedy, Goldberg and Downey knew how to carry on a funny conversation while someone else was talking, I could just go on.

Do not pass this movie by!

"At last, drama!"

[Son_of_Mansfield · 8/10 · 6 April 2006]

Fast paced and funny satire about that original "reality TV", the soap opera. The script by playwright Robert Harling is packed with one liners and ridiculous situations. The best of them is the climax, a live broadcast that quickly deteriorates into bad improv and a brain transplant. Keven Kline's murdering of his lines, due to not wearing his glasses, is hilarious. "Her brain will laterally explore within the next few houses." The brilliant cast is on the same page as Kline. Sally Field, Elizabeth Shue, Cathy Moriarty, Robert Downey Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Teri Hatcher, Garry Marshall, and Kathy Najimy are all perfect. It is a treat to see a cast click like it does in this movie. This is a classic that has somehow slipped through the cracks.

P.S. The score by Alan Silvestri is an added bonus. It fits the soap opera with it's flamboyant and melodramatic air.

One of the better satires about daytime TV shows.

[RJBurke1942 · 8/10 · 28 December 2006]

Way back in 1955, the British made a comedy called Simon and Laura, with Peter Finch and the brilliant Kay Kendall. To this day, it stands as one of the finest examples of British comedy and, more particularly, about how television sitcoms become so popular. It was, and is, an excellent example also of self-referential cinema.

So also Soapdish, a film I'd never heard about until a few nights ago when I caught it on late TV. I was a bit dubious at first simply because comedy is so difficult to do well, as you know.

However, I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to watch a very clever satire about daytime American TV. In fact, it's been a while since I laughed so heartily. So, if you like satire, I'd recommend you see it.

The main actors – Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Robert Downey and Cathy Moriarty – quite simply do an excellent job, revealing just how bitchy and shallow the business of acting is. As I watched it, I kept thinking to myself: just how much of this bitchiness carries over into real life? That is, if actors ever do have a real life? As you probably know, Peter Sellers, for example, was notorious for hiding his true persona behind a multitude of characters, so that nobody really knew the real person. So, as I watched Sally Field playing Celeste Talbot playing Maggie, I thought again about that earlier British film with Kay Kendall playing Laura playing a character in a TV sitcom opposite Peter Finch...

Is it any wonder that some actors have nervous breakdowns? And that feeling was crystallized when Celeste finally confronts her daughter (Lori, played by Elizabeth Shue) and, in an emotional moment, repeats the fictional lines she'd used, on a prior episode of her daytime soap, when confronting her fictional daughter in that show! Are you confused? Well, it's not all like that, but the dialog is stunning for originality, comedy, bitchiness, anger, depravity, duplicity, and even...love.

The story? Well, there are many stories in this film, all interwoven, and which all come together at the end (of course – but not like a Robert Altman film, okay!), and not all of them are resolved finally. Life's not like that anyway, right? The pace is almost frenetic, and you really do have to watch and listen carefully to catch all the sight gags and subtle jokes. Spend the 97 minutes from your life and watch it; you won't regret the time usage.

The rest of the cast all perform well, although I've never taken much to Whoopi Goldberg. Perhaps the funniest exchanges are between Robert Downey and Cathy Moriarty and, for my money, the latter steals so many scenes from others, she gets my vote as the outstanding player. I kid you not, she gives the term bitch an entirely new face...

I loved this movie!!!!

[guil12 · 28 September 2002]

From the opening credits to and through the final credits ballroom cast celebration, this movie had me laughing and applauding the nonsense and hysterical plot. What a cast of stellar performers in certainly an ensemble approach to this flick. For they all seemed to have fun along the way and shared in the carrying out of a deliciously funny film. With Sally Field [who can do no wrong] Kevin Kline [a master of a line and expression] Robert Downey Jr. [brilliant and who can forget the other side of the coin and his performance as Charlie Chaplin] and Whoopi Goldberg [her one liners are a treasure "I'll say amen"] But let us not forget the supporting cast who stand out on their own, not to be overshadowed by the stars. Cathy Moriarty [very imposing and having a surprise for us all later in the plot working flawlessly along side of Downey] Elisabeth Shue [who can bring honesty along with humor in her performance] Paul Johansson [gorgeous hunk playing the soap hero bringing some very funny moments on his own] the delightful Kathy Najimy [who steals every scene she's in as the costumer who keeps dragging smokes throughout the film] Carrie Fisher [small role of casting agent on the lust for Rob Camilletti, an actor auditioning for a one liner as waiter] and the delectable Terri Hatcher as one of the stars of the soap who spends most of her time pushing up her breasts for the camera and for off camera. Put all of these terrific performers in one film and you have terrific comedy and a fast paced film. Hats off to you all. I have the VHS and never tire from watching this little treasure.

great soap opera comedy!!have fun with it!!

[Doc_Who · 7/10 · 28 September 1999]

This movie is about a fictional soap opera. It is very fast and funny. To say anything else would ruin the movie. There are several plots and sub plots in the movie. This movie has ensemble cast with today's hottest stars. They all gives over the top performances. This movie is favorite of mine from the year 1991. Soapdish is perfect for fans of either daytime soap opera /or prime time soap opera!!!If you watch soap go check this movie it's hilarious!!!

Good Clean Funny Movie

[jimmylee-1 · 7/10 · 13 July 2006]

I don't watch soaps. My grandmother still watches that one with the hour glass. I made fun of them it when I was ten (it was so easy).

But this movie takes parody and spells it a new way. I found the story pretty damn funny. The fashions of the 80's - shoulder pads, sequins, and polyester - just top it off. The huge hair, the high heels, and the histrionics - what a combination.

And all the actors just go to town, chewing up their parts and spitting them out in a big well scripted pile. Sally, Kevin, Elisabeth - wonderful! Whoopi - great! Robert Downey - refreshing to see him back when he had such potential, before the tabloids. And Garry: why did we have to wait so long to see him on film? Leesa Gibbons - hadn't been missing her, but nice to include her as a real life entertainment reporter (and where do you apply for THAT job, anyway?).

Admittedly, I could have done without Sally climbing the drainpipe. Lucy Ricardo did it, how many times?, as has every comedienne from Carol Burnett to I don't know who and I'm so done with it now, I could spit peanuts if I had them. Apparently it's what you do when you're being funny in a tall building in New York. I'm just thankful they didn't pull out the flagpole bit.

But it was cute, it was funny, it had plot twists, it had an after credits ending before that was common, it had clothes worthy of a second glance, it had a great cast and it's got personal memories for me. Really, what more do you need?

A Forgotten Comedy Classic

[Translucid2k4 · 9/10 · 2 August 2007]

'Soapdish' is one of the best, yet least well remembered comedies of the 1990's. The film revolves around the various off-camera drama's that occur behind the scenes of a cheaply produced Daytime Soap Opera. The first of the film's various impressive strengths is it's fantastic A-List cast. 'Soapdish' features some of the greatest actors and actresses of it's era.

The film is superbly led by Sally Field, as the neurotic ageing actress Celeste Talbert (She famously throws a tantrum when put in a costume that makes her look like "Gloria F*CKING Swanson!"). Her supporting cast reads like a who's-who of 90's Movie Greats! Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Downey Jr, Teri Hatcher, Kevin Kline and Kathy Najimy all elevate the film greatly. Goldberg is predictably excellent, whilst Downey Jr.'s and Hatcher's performances hint at the comedic excellence they would later achieve.

In terms of writing, the film is outstanding. There is a really modern edge to the script, which strays into the wonderfully bizarre on several occasions. There also several visual gags that are quite ahead of their time. In some ways, the film is reminiscent of Mel Brooks at his best and frequently reminded this reviewer of 'High Anxiety' (1977). Much of the film's humour hinges on it's often scathing, but pretty accurate, representations of daytime television and of neurotic and pretentious actors. For example, The extras casting session featuring the exploitative executive played by Carrie Fisher, is both hilarious and honest.

'Soapdish' is, for my money, one of the very best comedies Hollywood produced during the 1990's. It's excellent script and A-Class cast make it a must-see. It's hard not to love this film after it's kept you laughing for 90 minutes.

As Our General Hospital's Doctor's World Turns, the Young and the Restless search for tomorrow and the days of their lives.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 19 July 2013]

As a student of daytime soap history, I went into this with great anticipation, and did not come out unhappy with the results. Sally Field is Celeste Talbert, a daytime diva of Susan Lucci proportions that actually has an Emmy (or four) and comes off closer to Erika Slezak's "One Life to Live" character as "the queen of misery" as daytime network head Gary Marshall describes her as. She's as melodramatic off the set as she is on, and when a former leading man (Kevin Kline) returns to the show, she's ripe for ripping as secrets from her past prepare to turn her own world upside down, turning off her guiding light as she moves into her own edge of night.

She's surrounded by a series of wacko characters-producer Robert Downey Jr., his "friend with benefits" and jealous supporting player Cathy Moriarty (who has secrets of her own, revealed through her hatred of practically everybody around her), sardonic writer Whoopie Goldberg, and nervous costume designer Kathy Najimy who creates outrageous hats for the cast that threaten to make Celeste look like "Gloria F'in Swanson!" and new cast member Elizabeth Shue resemble Tweetie Bird.

You have to go into this film realizing that this soap opera parody isn't necessarily reflective of early 1990's soap opera. The sets are too glamorous for most soaps of this time (at the time, only "The Bold and the Beautiful" and "Santa Barbara" were really close to as lavish as this was) and some of the plot lines even inside the soaps reek of dialog far worse than anything heard on daytime. But to watch it for Field's tour-de-force performance (she parodies her infamous Oscar speech as Celeste picks up her umpteenth daytime Emmy) is to find delight in seeing Field out of her usual comfort zone set with her more dramatic films. Even her early sitcom appearances were far from outrageous, and she proves herself to be a good sport as she hams it up deliciously.

Second to Field in overall performance is Moriarty, perfectly cast as an Amazon-like woman whose frizzed hair and overly short nurses' uniform are only overshadowed by her Elaine Stritch like raspy voice. Moriarty is obviously an actress who decided that with her bigger-than-life qualities in real life, she'd never make it as an ingénue, and just went all out to camp up. Kline, too, is very funny, screaming "Don't call me Mr. Loman!" when his Florida dinner theater performance of "Death of a Salesman" is preparing for its curtain rise for its Geritol-guzzling audience. This is a film meant mainly for fun, not only for soap fans, but for those who just simply want to laugh at the ridiculousness of the drama of life and see their own problems in perspective.

Such an enjoyable film

[WinnieRouge · 9/10 · 17 March 2004]

Years ago I did follow a soap on TV. So I was curious about this movie, and I was so rewarded for finding it. It's a marvelous spoof of soaps, with jealousies, the usual actors' insecurities, and all sorts of lovely excesses. But more than anything - an amazing cast and an incredible script. How did someone get all those top-notch actors to play in such a silly sort of movie? And how did this little movie get writers to write the perfect lines? I never hear anyone talk about this movie or even admit hearing of it, but it's marvelous and I highly recommend seeing it. Sometimes I'll throw it on while doing housecleaning, and end up sitting on the couch, watching, laughing and thoroughly enjoying the whole wonderful thing. Many congrats to all who made it.

Day time TV send up

[gcd70 · 6/10 · 11 August 2007]

Very funny comedy from director Michael Hoffman and writer Robert Harling about a group of people whose 'soap opera' lives are more dramatic and interesting than the ones they portray in their daytime TV show, "The Sun Also Sets".

The whole huge cast, including Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Elisabeth Shue, Robert Downey Jnr, Carrie Fisher, Teri Hatcher, Garry Marshall, Kathy Najimy and Cathy Moriarty, play off each other well, producing some very funny moments, while Whoopi Goldberg is delightful. Not of the great script select, however "Soapdish" is all good fun as it sends up that institution of daytime T.V., soap opera!

Friday, October 18, 1991 - Knox District Centre

Has not aged well

[franklindf · 5/10 · 16 April 2021]

This film has some nostalgic appeal as a flashback piece and it's somewhat fun to see the cast perform in earlier times. But the story-line is goofy and whimsical in frivolous way that most films no longer are. It's not a raised art of film-making, it's just sort of campy and silly in a way that I found mostly tedious. Maybe some people can appreciate it as an escape to simpler times or find some other appeal but I mostly just found it chaotic, scattered, and unrelatable.

Best of the Best

[FreyDogg · 10/10 · 25 October 1998]

It really is a shame that films like this never snag Best Picture nominations, because this one is simply a winner. This is by far the most consistently hilarious comedy I have ever seen. Its screenplay and design are impeccable, not to mention the incredible cast. I can quote this movie for hours on end. Watch it.

An Entertaining Comedy!

[namashi_1 · 7/10 · 27 January 2014]

'Soapdish' is one good laugh! An Entertaining Comedy, that ranks amongst the better films from the early 1990's. Its got the wit & the humor, working on its advantage.

'Soapdish' Synopsis: An ambitious TV soap actress connives with her producer to scuttle the career of the show's long-time star, but nothing works as they plan.

'Soapdish' is amusing, rib-tickling & arresting. The characters are absurd, but their journey together is graspingly funny. Robert Harling & Andrew Bergman's Screenplay balances humor & wit, commendably. Michael Hoffman's Direction is perfect. Cinematography is spacious. Editing is decent.

Performance-Wise: Kevin Kline is exceptional, as always. He's the scene-stealer! Sally Field is stupendous. A super act! Elisabeth Shue is extremely cute. Whoopi Goldberg is spunky, while Robert Downey, Jr. is another topper. Cathy Moriarty & Carrie Fisher are adequate.

On the whole, 'Soapdish' works.

All in all, meh. Horrible ending.

[cpaulcanaday · 3/10 · 31 July 2021]

Soapdish has a few scenes that are generally funny but all in all it falls flat. It actually starts with some good, promising satire, with ridiculously good looking people getting cast as a rabble crowd of homeless people, and scenes about the casting couch. And Kevin Kline playing Death of a Salesman in bad dinner theater in Florida. Genuinely funny stuff. But it very quickly gets lost in a very uninteresting story about failed attempts to derail Sally Fields' character's career (attempts that, despite the hyped up acting, never has any real teeth or even sense of high stakes) and her triangle relationship with her supposed niece and Kevin Kline's character. So much wasted talent here! Kathy Najimy, a brilliant comedic actress, is completely wasted in a throwaway role as a costumer. Even worse with Carrie Fischer! She gets one hilarious scene, making me want to see more of her and her character, and then she basically disappears for the rest of the movie. So disappointed. But the worst for me was the end, which relies on a horrible and very offensive transphobic joke.

The best satires are grounded in some version of reality. Part of the fun is recognizing the truth in even the most ridiculous of situations, since the truth itself is often ridiculous. The Soapdish producers seem to have felt that if you just mix in a few jokes with an otherwise uninteresting story, you'll have good satire. Instead they settled for a few cheap laughs. What a waste of a talented cast.

Sally's best

[jleightoncrawford · 7/10 · 14 December 2018]

I can never get enough of this movie Sally Field is just hilarious. Can you imagine how exhausting it must have been for her to do this film I cannot believe she wasn't nominated for anything she shines in this film

So soapy and fun

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 3 June 2020]

Soapdish is a really fun movie for anyone who likes over-the-top dramatic, well, soap operas. As you can tell from the title, it's set during the making of a daytime soap opera. And just as you'd hope, the melodrama emanating from backstage is equal to that which all the stars perform in front of the camera. There's infidelity, backstabbing, family secrets, sex scandals, sabotage, and ridiculous emotional outbursts. But that's the point of soap operas!

Sally Field and Cathy Moriarty, two actresses vying for the top slot, have a long-standing feud. Cathy seduces the show's producer, Robert Downey Jr., and tries to get Sally's character written off the show. When that doesn't work, she tries to get Sally to quit by bringing in her ex-boyfriend as a new cast member, Kevin Kline. Elisabeth Shue also joins the cast, and while at first, the sparks are flying between Kevin and Sally, Elisabeth soon joins in the odd love triangle.

I won't tell you any more of the plot, but it's just as ridiculous and melodramatic as you could ever hope it to be. You'll also see Whoopi Goldberg, Teri Hatcher, Carrie Fisher, and Garry Marshall in the supporting cast. Mix a batch of cocktails, invite your girlfriends over, and get ready for the biggest soap you can watch at night!

This one is worth it

[tim8160 · 10/10 · 15 April 2001]

It's funny. It's not Arthur Miller or T.S. Elliot, but man this is funny. Kline and Fields are great. (Her toss-off line "God, you are so disGUSting" as she climbs in his window - great! Kline's running into the door after scoping out Teri Hatcher - great too!) Robert Downey Jr. and Kathy Moriarty work together flawlessly - until he finds out who she really is... a soap opera turn if there every was one!

The scene near the end in the chinese dining area had my kids and I rolling on the floor - that scene alone is worth the rental price.

Doesn't solve any world problems or show the seemy underbelly of daytime T.V. (I hope). Just a lot of fun.

Sally Field goes crazy manic

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 7 October 2013]

The drama of a soap opera on screen and off. Celeste Talbert (Sally Field) is queen of the soaps. Montana Moorehead (Cathy Moriarty) wants to be top dog. She gets the help of David Seton Barnes (Robert Downey Jr) to try and write difficulties for Celeste. They even bring back her old flame Jeffrey Anderson (Kevin Kline) to get under her skin. Only when her niece (Elisabeth Shue) comes on the show, it gets more complicated than even her most hated enemy could hope for.

There is a lot of crazy characters going around in this. Some of them get quite hilarious. Sally Field is going off on this character. She's a lot of fun. The amount of acting talent here is amazing. The story off the screen is even more hilarious.

Hilarious

[Red7Eric · 10/10 · 17 September 1998]

I think that this is possibly the funniest movie I have ever seen. Robert Harling's script is near perfect, just check out the "quotes" section; on second thought, just rent the DVD, since it's the delivery that really makes the lines sing.

Sally Field gives a comic, over-the-top performance like you've never seen from her anywhere else, and Kevin Kline is effortlessly hilarious. Robert Downey, Jr. is typically brilliant, and in a very small role, Kathy Najimy is a riot as the beleaguered costumer. I was never much of a fan of Elisabeth Shue, but she's great here as the one *real* person surrounded by a bevy of cartoon characters on the set of "The Sun Also Sets" -- that rumbling you feel beneath you is Hemingway rolling over in his grave. Either that, or he's laughing really hard.

Five stars. Funny, funny, funny.

Amoral amusement

[Mr-Fusion · 7/10 · 2 May 2018]

I swear you couldn't make this stuff up . . . and yet somebody did. That's "Soapdish", an off-the-rails comedy that features, well, pretty much everyone with a pulse in early '90s Hollywood. It's chock full of talent, cheerfully playing to the cheap seats (as Sally Field engages in one conniption after another; it's a joy).

There's almost something wholesome about the tawdry subject matter; and as dirty as these characters are playing, it somehow ends up being good clean fun.

7/10

Nurse Sally

[tedg · 3 December 2003]

Spoilers herein.

`Nurse Betty' is something special, a high watermark in the abstract reasoning it demands of an audience. The complexities of what is real and fiction are pretty folded.

`Betty' relies on this, and this relies on `Tootsie.' But of the three, this is the only one that is actually fun to watch. That's because it is structured to encourage the sort of hammy acting it satirizes. And these players know what to do: Kline is always clever in his narrow way (he had actually just done a `Hamlet' of the type he goofs about), but Whoopie and Sally are at the top of their game in an Almodovar-ian way. That's where you reflect the layering of the plot (a soap about a soap) on the style of acting.

Sally deserved better roles. She knows how to do folded acting, even the kind where one fold is serious and the simultaneous other is comedic. Here, the whole cast - especially Downey - is in on the joke.

I am convinced that most of the players, and especially Sally, were doped up.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Almodóvar Lite!

[junk-monkey · 3/10 · 22 October 2013]

Watching Soapdish for the first time tonight I had an ever increasing sense of deja vu. I had seen this before - yet I knew I hadn't. It was all weirdly, strangely familiar but all new too. About half way through the film it clicked. I realised I was watching a Pedro Almodóvar film - made by Americans.

It's all there: the frantic over the top relentless pace, the rapid line delivery, the over-the-top emotion and outrageous plot twists played out with the subtlety of a daytime soap. Even the Almodóvar visual trademark of having a strong red element in frame wherever possible is on show.

I like Almodóvar's films. I didn't particularly like Soapdish. It lacked the edge that Almodóvar's films have, an edge that skirts, and often tips over into, downright vulgarity. His films are blatantly Soap Operatic but they are played straight. His films have contained all sorts of disturbing characters and situations: heroin-using nuns, people making (quite funny) jokes in the middle of a rape scene, carers having sex with their coma patients... the list goes on. Quite often in his films you find yourself laughing at things, or condoning things, which you KNOW you should find repellent but somehow... there you are... laughing.

It's what makes him such a great film maker.

At no point was anything even vaguely threatening or vulgar going to happen in Soapdish. It played safe. And strictly for laughs. Then, just to make sure, just in case the audience didn't get it, placed the grotesque soap operatics of the story into the setting of the studios of a daytime soap. Signalled to the audience as loudly as it could that this was not to be taken seriously and the style was deliberate. Corporate film making. They took the veneer of Almadovar's style - even the opening credits are familiar - and applied it wholesale to an acceptable fast-paced Hollywood farce.

The real thing is much better.

It's hilarious and underrated all on the same level

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 10/10 · 26 October 2012]

Comedies like "Soapdish", even though were made more than 20 years ago, are such a standout from what's going on with the genre nowadays that we keep wondering what happened with movies like this? It's nice to see things like this now to see how good those movies were back in days, yet with some sadness since it wasn't much of a hit back in the days but now it might be a little more popular because of the cast involved, people really track down those flicks and now "Soapdish" is a Broadway musical.

The soap opera world musn't be ashamed of "Soapdish". Its portrayal of TV divas, the craziness, the egos and the jealous among stars, all the rivalry and all the mess involving the behind the scenes of a soap opera is fairly and hilariously presented in the film that knows how present some realism of what happens in those shows. It's all about real drama recreating fictional drama and the crowds love them...as long it's on the screen with actors playing in both, the drama of their lives and the drama of the characters they play. Here we follow the many attempts of supporting player Montana Moorehead (Cathy Moriarty) in to convince TV producer David Barnes (Robert Downey Jr.) to find ways of replacing America's Sweetheart Celeste Talbert (Sally Field, in her most comical role since "Punchlines") from the leading role of a huge hit that gained her several Daytime Awards. But those attempts keeps failing again and again. One of the latest involves bringing back to TV an old lover of Celeste (both on TV and in real life) that now is a decadent performer of Willy Loman on a poor theater, the charming Jeffrey Anderson (Kevin Kline) that now is on his way to finally resurrect his career. There's the show's writer (Whoopi Goldberg) who not only tries to help Celeste, her best friend, during her crisis, but also has to deal with the constant changes on her creation ("The man's dead. He was decapitated, I checked. How am I supposed to bring him back on the show?). And there's Talbert's niece (Elisabeth Shue) who decides to join in the steps of her famous aunt and becomes an actress in a instant. There's some secrets involving her that are best to not present them here for obvious reasons. Confusion is set up and lots of laughs as well.

With first rate humor, an energetically funny soundtrack composed of mambo themes by Alan Silvestri, "Soapdish" gives a curious and detailed look into the TV world, the people behind it, their lives and their personal dramas and how those gets easily intertwined yet it's a movie filled with laughs. And there's time for a sensitive moment when Whoopi's character cheers the mood of her friend who was in a complete wrecked mood. That moment, the shopping mall scene, is a good reminder that comedy not always must go for the laughters, thoughtful special sequences like those must be encouraged, they make the film memorable.

Humor of best quality is reserved to absurdest parts like the one that involves the last chapter of the show broadcast live with the actors reading their lines from teleprompter (Jeffrey barely manages to read his already confuse lines) and often actors confuse the plot and the characters with their real self; or Barnes attempts to put his hands on Montana; the scene at the hotel with Celeste spying on Jeffrey has to be one of the best parts ever.

Performances were amazing, the script was fabulous and very well written. It's quite an shock to understand why this hasn't got the bigger audience it deserves and the awards it should've gotten. Rare times that I laughed so hard with a movie. "Soapdish" is a truly must-see. 10/10

An Amusing Lampoon of the World of Daytime Drama

[ijonesiii · 7/10 · 23 December 2005]

Though nowhere near as good as TOOTSIE, SOAPDISH is an amusing spoof of the world of daytime drama with a funny story and an impressive all-star cast. Sally Field, who unveils a skill for slapstick comedy that she had shelved for many years, is on target as Celeste, the aging soap diva of THE SUN ALSO SETS, afraid that she is past her prime and constantly complaining about her story lines, co-stars, wardrobe and anything else she can think of. Kevin Kline is charming, as always, as Celeste's ex-husband, who is tracked down at a dinner theater in Florida playing Willy Loman, to come onto the soap to make trouble for Celeste. Robert Downey Jr. steals every scene he is in as one of the producers of the show, who is being cuckolded by another cast member (a wonderfully bitchy Cathy Moriarty)to get Celeste off the show. Whoopi Goldberg plays the show's head writer and Celeste's best friend, who has one very amusing scene at a New Jersey mall where she pretends to recognize Celeste from the soap and fawns all over her, apparently something she and Celeste do from time to time to massage Celeste's delicate ego. Elisabeth Shue also charms as an actress with a secret who joins the show and there are also funny bits from Kathy Najimy, Carrie Fisher, and Teri Hatcher. Despite manic direction and an uneven screenplay, SOAPDISH is still a lot of fun and worth checking out, whether or not you watch soaps.

Spoof of daytime TV is full of easy targets

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 4 September 2017]

The reigning diva on the daytime serial "The Sun Also Sets" is conspired against by her co-workers after ratings begin to slip; meanwhile, her life outside the show has turned into a real soap opera when secrets from the past catch up with her. It wouldn't be wise to knock a gregarious piece of fluff such as "Soapdish" too strongly--not only does the film have its share of supporters (late-in-coming, as it turns out), but a bauble like this, with its fake-glitzy surroundings and eager-to-please cast, can be a nostalgic tonic for those pining for the era of the television soap opera. Now a vanishing breed, the once-popular morning-to-afternoon melodrama was the housewife's cure for the game show blues, complete with diseases of the week, hunks without their shirts romancing aging ladies in glamorous gowns, outrageous story lines and 'controversial' topics. "Soapdish" takes all of this into consideration, yet it has tunnel-vision; it isn't sharp enough to foresee the genre's ultimate decline (this is a world where everything can be fixed with a juicy subplot). Sally Field is miscast in the central role; as an actress, she's a trouper--and indefatigable--but she isn't convincing as a harried queen bee (she's been made too vulnerable by the writers, who have her crying too much). Director Michael Hoffman has obviously done his homework on the subject, and yet his treatment may be too heady for this cheap, flashy milieu; Hoffman goes in for 'feelings' with his 'sensitive' edits, but the characters are still cut-outs to us because they haven't been fleshed out in the writing. The material in general is too broad and silly, anyway, to get worked up over, although Whoopi Goldberg has nicely dry comic timing as the head writer of the show and Kathy Najimy manages to make her thankless wardrobe girl role stand out just by playing it nonchalant. ** from ****