Death Becomes Her (1992)
Some people will go to any lengths to stay young forever. But Madeline Ashton and her old friend Helen Sharp are about to go TOO far.
I had to get a subscription to HBO max so I could check out the new Godzilla movie without leaving my house, so I’ve been ransacking their stores of movies while the subscription is active. As I scrolled through, I found a movie that I haven’t seen in forever that I remember being fun. I know it had a few effects in there, and to be honest I’m wondering how well they will age. Get ready for a rivalry between two women to get mystical, we are going to look at Death Becomes Her.
Two women are rivals - one having stolen numerous past suitors from the other. After the most recent time of having her fiance fail the test, one of the women goes into a downward mental spiral as her would-be husband marries the rival. She plots her revenge as the other does everything she can to look as young as she can forever. This youth obsession only gets accelerated when the girl she stole the man from comes back looking finer than ever. Secretly, while she’s out looking into someone who can “work miracles”, the vengeful woman meets the husband and starts to plot murder - the ultimate revenge she can come up with. It all seems so straight forward, until a mystical potion gets involved and things spiral into insanity…
A lot of the movie is played for laughs - be it the tragic parts or the actual funny parts. You could say that maybe it has a dark sense of humor, but that’s not a terrible thing in my books.Towards the end, it gets quite slapstick silly. There is potential for some people to get offended here and there by the humor, but it doesn’t seem overly malicious about it to me, as much as playing with stereotypes like “crazy cat lady” or “vain rich person.” Over-dramatic falls, misunderstandings, and some lines during various insult-filled shouting matches can be funny, but won’t be for everybody. Humor is going to be hit or miss anyways, but given the spin on domestic and image-based topics I can see some not enjoying it as much as others, regardless of how campy it’s playing it to be.
Actors do a good job here. As mentioned, the characters can be a bit over the top intentionally, but the actors play it to the level that the characters demand it to be. Sometimes this might be a bit much, sometimes it might seem pretty on the level. Regardless, it all seems to fit with what the movie is trying to do. Both our lead ladies hit their respective roles expertly - be it super-vain youth-obsessed rich person, or revenge-obsessed schemer. The main man plays his part of sheepish broken down quite well, and it makes any outbursts he has feel more potent or comical, depending on the type. Acting really isn’t going to be a problem here - although people might not feel the same about the characters themselves, being a bit one-line in their characterizations.
She’s got a lot of weight on her shoulders.
If you happen to be the kind of person that likes to think, you can find a decent amount of stuff to pick out of the movie. You could find things to pick apart about obsessions, vanity, immortality, and what it means to be alive. You could probably look at it and decide that it has some stuff to say about relationships and the long lasting effects people can have on each other. You could have a lot of fun looking at it from a discussion stand point if that’s your style thing - but outside of one well done part involving the male lead, none of it ever really is an obnoxious repetitive in-your-face sort of thing. It just all naturally sort of flows into the background and moves the story along, whilst letting you enjoy the movie as it goes.
Honestly, I remember a few moments of this movie from before I re-watched it for tonight. Most of these moments were less to do with who was in it, what the jokes were, or the main plot - most of these things were the effects. By the time you get to the end of the movie and the mystical element crops up, you get all sorts of things like broken parts, see-thru holes and the occasional fancy potion makes for an impressive breath of air in a movie where it wouldn’t seem like the film would have it. It keeps things somewhat fresh. Some of the jokes play into these effects as well, and although yes, not all of them are super great in regards to aging, but for the most part they do all look quite well done. Little prosthetic stuff, big prosthetic stuff, there’s a deal of effects to enjoy after the mystics kick in. I can’t speak much of the costumes, given they all look quite modern. They do their job well, but it’s nothing more than “some of the dresses are pretty” - and outside of the one magic-potion vending lady who refuses to wear shirts (and instead covers the naughty bits with beads or towels), it all just blends in to normal attire. Not sure if a fat suit would be considered costume or effect, but there is one of those as well.
Audio is well balanced. The music will do it’s classical job of supporting the scenes, but doesn’t stand out super well to me afterwards. You won’t have any problem hearing lines, which is always nice though. As mentioned previously, some of the line deliveries can be a bit over the top, but it feels fitting enough for whats going on with the movie. Foley makes things feel good and natural in most scenes, and at times you can get that dramatic storm vibe to amp things up a bunch. It’s pretty well balanced, although of it’s genres attached I’d wager the Horror element is the lowest.
I don’t remember this on Wheel of Fortune.
It’s not an overly complicated movie, but it’s an interesting enough one. It’s got some jokes in there, and a horror element after the supernatural part kicks in. It’s well acted, doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, and has some of that dark comedy that not everyone will appreciate but most probably will have plenty enough fun with. It never really plays itself too seriously, what with things like fat suits and torso-holes, and some of the jokes are actually quite well done.