hush reviewed by jamie peck<hr>rating : * ½ ( out of * * * * ) tristar / 1 : 32 / 1998 / pg-13 ( language , violence , brief nudity , sexuality ) cast : jessica lange ; gwyneth paltrow ; johnathon schaech ; nina foch ; debi mazar ; hal holbrook ; richard lineback ; kaiulani lee director : johnathan darby screenplay : johnathan darby ; jane rusconi <hr>call " hush " " stop or my mom will kill . " or " mommy fearest . " or " the hand that robs the cradle . " call it whatever you want , but certainly don't see it unless you're in desperate need of a bad movie-induced chuckle -- " hush " scores so many unintentional guffaws that it almost qualifies as a guilty pleasure . chalk its losses up to frequent stupidity lapses and apparent post-production tinkering ( it was supposed to open about a year ago ) , the latter of which appears to have given " hush " a send-off that's downright infuriating . it's too bad that " hush " is so laughable , because the on-screen talent -- including the pairing of gwyneth paltrow and jessica lange -- is nothing to laugh at . paltrow and johnathon schaech play helen and jackson , a photogenic new york couple on their way to spend christmas vacation at his wealthy , well-to-do family's horse farm/estate kilronan . jackson's mother martha ( lange ) runs kilronan all by herself , and her genteel southern hospitality makes helen feel welcome immediately -- even if her first meeting with martha takes place while helen is in the altogether , caught red-handed after a bedroom romp with her husband-to-be . but it seems that martha's friendly smile masks a much more threatening demeanor ; she's what you'd call someone who loves too much . martha eagerly , deviously wants a grandchild , and then helen will be expendable , as far as she's concerned . if there's one reason to catch " hush , " it's lange . she treats the pedestrian screenplay better than it deserves to be treated , injecting martha ( poorly written though she may be ) with a little empathy to level out the psycho-playing field . when she delves into martha's dark side , predictable cliches -- chain-smoking , staring in mirrors , praying in a confessional to a priest who isn't there , poking a hole in helen's diaphragm so she'll become pregnant ( and she does ) -- abound , but it's moderately entertaining junk because lange is such an interesting actress to watch . veteran performer nina foch is smart and tart as jackson's wheelchair-bound paternal grandmother . the rest of the cast looks ill and uncomfortable , especially paltrow . but can you really blame them ? the character relationships in " hush " hold a certain amount of promise , at least until their psychological impact is blown out of the water by sheer stupidity . idiotic situations ( martha yells at a nearby horse so it will bolt up and knock helen over ) compliment idiotic dialogue ( " why did you yell ? " helen yells back at martha ) , and the film takes the form of one of the shoddier fill in the blank-from-hell flicks ever made . you can see through a great deal of martha's actions and lies from their conception ; why do people who have known this woman for years longer than we have never figure things out ? does nobody communicate or read the newspaper in this town ? if any of her potential victims thought , acted or behaved like normal people , " hush " would be a really short movie . and then there's the climax and ending , which abruptly come when helen starts having contractions after eating some pound cake spiked with a labor-inducing drug normally used on horses . after a really weird chase scene , martha calmly knits in a rocking chair while forcing helen to give birth in a bed all by herself . i won't spoil what happens next except to say that it's contradictory , illogical and ( probably , since i'm no doctor ) medically impossible . the final scene offers no closure , no resolution , no confrontation whatsoever . it's just there , dangling amidst silent displeasure . no one should like this ending , regardless of their feelings on the preceding material . perhaps " hush " 's title is a plea to silence its audience's likely bitter word of mouth while exiting the theater . <hr>© 1997 jamie peck e-mail : <a href= " mailto : jpeck1@gl . umbc . edu " >jpeck1@gl . umbc . edu</a> visit the reel deal online : <a href= " http : //www . gl . umbc . edu/~jpeck1/ " >http : //www . gl . umbc . edu/~jpeck1/</a> " suggestions , please , for the fourth movie in the series . how about ‘look who's talking back , ' in which the audience gets its turn ? " -- roger ebert on " look who's talking now " 
