# Steel Magnolias (1989)

### reviewed by
Laurie D. T. Mann

                                 STEEL MAGNOLIAS
                           A film review by Laurie Mann
                            Copyright 1990 Laurie Mann

This is a *very* frustrating movie to watch. You have some wonderful performances (Sally Field and Julia Roberts), and others that are just so overdone (Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Tom Skerrit) that they almost seem to be part of another movie. You have characters that make mysterious transformations during the course of the movie, like Darryl Hannah and Sam Shepard. You have some clumsy sound editing which left half the audience wondering why the other half was laughing.

I basically liked the movie. I laughed more at this movie more than at any movie since EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY. Even though I knew how weepy parts of the movie would be, I still found myself crying. There's a moment after her daughter's funeral when Sally Field suddenly starts reacting with such fury over the death that she reminded me of her performance in SYBIL.

Maybe *that's* the problem. I never got so involved in the movie that I forgot I was watching a movie. In films like CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, ALWAYS, and SAY ANYTHING, I literally forgot I was watching a film at times. But, here, Dolly Parton is playing the same good old girl we've seen her play in many other movies. Ann Wedgeworth is playing another Southern eccentric.

The movie takes occasional risks. Shirley MacLaine has never looked worse, but it suits her character perfectly. The relationship between Sally Field and Julia Roberts is *very* complicated, but it's also pretty believable.

I think I'd rate the movie about a 7 on the Chuck scale, because though it's a flawed movie, I found it compelling just the same. It's so rare to see the friendships of a number of woman portrayed in a film. Someone complained somewhere about the lack of a strong male character anywhere in the picture. All I can say is: ABOUT TIME!

Laurie Mann ** harvard!m2c!jjmhome!lmann ** lmann%jjmhome@m2c.m2c.org Work: Stratus Computer ** Home: Northboro, MA ** lmann@jjmhome.UUCP */

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