Bliss
1997
Erotic Drama
Occasionally pretentious twaddle with some cringey scenes, Bliss is an undemanding look at eroticism and be it people having sex and the occasionally mundane therapy babble that goes with it. A couple is having problems when the wife admits she is faking orgasms. It features plenty of talky scenes. This film is problematic in so many ways. Terrance Stamp is the sex therapist but even he can't save the film from being watchable. When the film plunges into the couple's problems, without barely highlighting what initially set them off or what led to them escalating in the first place, meant I couldn't develop any interest in or buy into Joseph and Maria as characters & as a couple. It's like one of those sex manuals or books with talky words coming to life. With its luxurious settings offset by its TV movie feel, the tone is just not earnest enough to fully get to the real heart of the matter. The twist towards the end is too little, too late & some of the dialogue when Joseph describes how he makes love to his wife -- get inside her (?) & when Stamp asks what do you think about your penis?' with Joseph replying 'I like it, it's large and powerful'-- is akin to something from a fanfic.
Is It Worth Seeing?
Maybe for some people, but I found this to be unengaging and trite
Overall:
Music of the Heart
1999
Cast: Meryl Streep, Aidan Quinn, Angela Bassett, Gloria Estefan, Jane Leeves, Kieran Culkin
Genre: Drama
Worldwide Box Office: over £14 million
Plot: Story of a schoolteacher's struggle to teach violin to inner-city Harlem kids
'One-Note Tame Affair, Despite Streep's Valiant Turn'
More Mr Holland's Opus than Dangerous Minds, Music of the Heart is another in the long line of inspirational teachers going to a new school and changing things for the better -type of movie, you know the drill. It is one you have seen millions of time over: Dead Poets Society, Mona Lisa Smile, Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers, To Sir With love, the list goes on. Interestingly enough also, it is directed by Wes Craven - director of horror movies such as the Nightmare on Elm Street series and Scream, whose decision to go outside of his comfort zone and experiment with something new and different, is a surprise. Yet that decision has not quite paid off to its fullest as Music of the Heart is too vanilla in its direction that doesn't offer much in the way of entertainment, yet the second half is a little better and Meryl Streep adapts to the role with ease.
Based on a true story, the film begins in 1980: Roberta Guaspari is a trained violinist and single mother of 2 after her husband runs off with another woman, who in this case is her best friend. In need of work, Roberta packs her kids to move to an impoverished area in Harlem in the hopes of teaching violin. She lands a job in an inner-city school, led by principal Williams and she ends up teaching a set of kids.
What makes Music of the Heart a tad different from those films is it sort of came and went without much fanfare, hype and attention. Watching this, I could see why. Even though it has Meryl Streep in it despite initially being the first choice with Madonna lined up in the starring role, she did well. Her character was strong and her performance was somewhat strong and fitting. But with the movie, with kids in place of rebellious rowdy, bad attitude teens means it doesn't have that edge and potency to elevate it further, even though it is based on real events; I mean it's uplifting and sort of nice, but it is uninspired and a tad boring in places too.
I liked the second half of the film a little more than I did with the first half and I wasn't keen on Aidan Quinn's underwritten character who woos Roberta, only to take off without her. The relationship subplot with Roberta was bland and felt like it was just thrown in for good measure. I also would have liked to have seen one of the kids' family situations delved into a little more deeply and the male characters weren't portrayed sympathetically, or be it more specifically, Aidan Quinn's character.
Charlie Hofheimer, who was in the Robin Williams and Billy Crystal comedy, Fathers' Day, is much at ease here as one of Roberta's sons, in contrast to the 1997 movie where his character was an anonymity, alongside Kieran Culkin. Other familiar faces include pop singer, Gloria Estefan, Jane Leeves of Frasier & Hot in Cleveland, who adopts a very strange accent and What's Love Got To Do With It's Angela Bassett. Despite her appearance on the front cover, Estefan only appears briefly, with Bassett reuniting with Wes Craven for the second time, after the financial flop that is Vampire in Brooklyn starring Eddie Murphy.
I noticed several Asian kids from the class took up violin lessons, and there is that stereotype of Asians who practice and play the violin so well, but I'm sure this wasn't deliberate or intentional. Wes Craven goes about it in a straightforward manner, but for a few other scenes, it just didn't make for a great movie.
The heart aspect of Music of The Heart, however, just didn't come through; I never felt it and it just didn't make the type of impact that a drama, or be it so-called inspirational-based drama should do. Though Meryl Streep earned her 12th nomination for this movie, the film itself didn't. And yet here, there just wasn't enough substance to carry it all the way through.
For a director known for twists, shocks and surprises in most of his other films, Wes Craven played the story too safe and thus, making it a stalemate.
Final Verdict:
As earnest as it is in its intentions, the story just wasn't incredible as a spectacle and movie for me to fully get behind. The resistance and the sheer obstacles that Roberta faces are rather meagre and but for one or two instances, they just don't hold much weight.
Add to that, there is little in the way of character development, as the writer, Pamela Gray centres on Streep, exclusively, and less so on the other cast members, yet with Hoffheimer he wasn't bad.
Watch for Meryl Streep's performance, but otherwise, along with very little characterisation & a one-note direction, there is not so much else to recommend, sadly.
Overall:
Molly
1999
Romantic Comedy-Drama
One of the biggest flops of the late 1990s, Molly was Elizabeth Shue's other attempt at being a dramatic actress after impressing in 1995's Leaving Las Vegas - yet it only amassed under $18,000 in the U.S. When the Chinese guy broke into 'Old McDonald', I sensed this wasn't going to be good - in fact, Molly was embarrassing, and I'm not talking about the character but the movie itself. This is supposed to be like Rain Man, right? Molly is the autistic-like sibling who is left in charge of looking after her brother, Buck - only to undergo an operation. Well, for starters though unlike Dustin Hoffman in that film, Shue's performance bordered on parody and is almost so inept that it made me wince. When she was angry, she was ranting. It was unnatural and it didn't feel genuine or authentic enough for me to fully buy her as an autistic person. She just couldn't pass off as being autistic. Molly is Rain Man meets Awakenings, but the tone is conflicting: it tries to be meaningful, but at the same time, some scenes are either just laughable or cringing, as they are straight-up bad. Aaron Eckhart was ok as the big brother and Thomas Jane as Sam looks awfully young. Its production values lean towards TV movie-direct-to-DVD fare and despite the theme, Molly doesn't attempt to challenge the viewer or make them think, along with an unengaging story. The only thing it made me do as I watched this, is wince & feel bored.
Is It Worth Watching?
For avid Elizabeth Shue fans only
Overall:
Current Net Worth: $12.5 million
Born in the mid-Atlantic of Wilmington, Delaware in 1963, Elisabeth Judson Shue is one of 4
children and the only girl, who has close ties with her brother, Andrew, who is a fellow actor.
After graduating from Columbia High School, Shue went onto Wellesley College and in 1984, transferred to Harvard University to study Political Science. Whilst at college, Shue took an interest in acting and with that afterwards, she starred and appeared in TV ads for Burger King and video game company, Atari. She dropped out/left Harvard one semester shy of her degree, although she returned to Harvard in 1997 to complete her studies and get her B.A Hons. Shue's family life was affected by the death of her brother, William in a swimming accident during a family vacation, which ultimately made her rethink her priorities. That gamble paid off, as at the time of The Karate Kid's release in 1984, Shue was a mere 21 years of age and it became one of the blockbuster hits of the year, leading to more film roles for Shue to sink her teeth into.
Up until 1995, Elisabeth was typecasted in wholesome, goody-two-shoes, girl-next-door type character roles in the Chris Columbus debut, Adventures in Babysitting, which also marked Shue's first leading role as Chris, and Back to the Future II and III as Marty McFly's girlfriend, Jennifer & The Karate Kid as Daniel Larusso's girlfriend in subsequent love interest roles. With Shue replacing Claudia Wells in the Back To The Future sequels. Wells chose not to pursue the role any further and with that, Shue took over the mantle. It was at this point in her career, in 1988 with Cocktail starring Tom Cruise and 1989's Back to The Future II, it started to flourish. But then came the 1990s where she attained supporting and bit-part roles in Soapdish, 20 Bucks, Deconstructing Harry, The Marrying Man, Dream On, Heart and Souls to name. These weren't the multi-million dollar big screen hitters, but they did the trick. Some of them that is. Major roles evaded Shue, but one that came and became a breakthrough and significant game changer for her career, well, briefly anyway, was as prostitute Sara opposite Nicolas Cage in Mike Figgis's drama, Leaving Las Vegas. Her performance in the film helped her land an academy award nomination, as well as BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG Awards for best actress.
After that, she landed several diverse roles in a variety of movies, but with most of them, they never truly unleashed Shue's true talents and worth.
Shue is another actress who should have set the world and Hollywood alight, especially after her Oscar nomination for best-supporting actress in Mike Figgis's tragi-love tale, Leaving Las Vegas. Yet bombs such as the remake of The Saint, as well as the derisory reception and negative feedback of Hollow Man all but ended her stardom for good, and she hasn't appeared in a commercial mainstream theatrical movie up until 2018's Death Wish. Her public profile diminished, over time since the 1980s where she was touted by many as a future Hollywood starlet who would go onto bigger and better things, and yet Shue's film career has oscillated up and down and she hasn't maintained that level of consistency that many would expect. By the late 1990s after Leaving Las Vegas, she was no longer a bankable leading lady and she mostly featured in supporting roles, whilst leading roles were not only a few but were mainly in indie and B-movies many people hadn't heard of, namely Palmetto, Cousin Bette, and 1999 bomb Molly, which made just under $18,000 apparently. Then came the killer in 2000's Hollow Man, which not only became a financial bomb for the controversial director, Paul Verhoeven but that Shue's role, which wasn't well handled by the writers, didn't elevate herself as an actress and star any further than it should have & it pretty much dug a huge hole in her movie career. For me, contrary to some, her career never went as far from then on from that flick. Whilst with the horror flick, Hide & Seek this did well financially, it was also trounced by critics.
Shue took a hiatus from acting to raise her children and when they got older, she had to reacquaint herself with the business again when she returned as an actress. 2014's Behaving Badly had Shue playing the young best friend's mother who tries to seduce the lead character. The film also featured lesser-known actors in Heather Graham, Mary-Louise Parker, Dylan McDermott, Jason Lee to name. It was made in 2012, but studio head honchos let it sit on the shelves for 2 years (a sign that the film won't be good). When it did come out, critics weren't impressed, thus it was mercilessly savaged & it bombed at the U.S box office.
Her last films to date that were released were 2017's tennis biopic, Battle of the Sexes & the 2018 remake of Death Wish where she played the onscreen wife of Bruce Willis's character - and a wasteful one too, as she gets killed off earlier on in the movie. The film received negative reviews.
After Leaving Las Vegas, I did assume that things would get a lot easier than they've been. But it's just been a mirror of the way my career's been from the beginning, so for it to have changed would have been strange. My career has never been perfect. - Elisabeth Shue
In some ways, I wouldn't say I looked up to her, but rather I saw her as an actress who could be up there with Angelina Jolie, Michelle Pfieffer of the cinematic drama world at least - and yet, it's unfortunate that it just never took off in that way. But as ever, Hollywood can be a very fickle place: they're the flavour of the year one minute, the next they're not, and the next thing they know, it is over. It's odd really: when an actress or actor has dominated or be it been making and starring in movies for over 3 decades, not all of them become successes overnight - that, or that success is only shortlived, whilst a number of their contemporaries have been far more successful. This has been the case for Elizabeth Shue.
That's not to say she isn't versatile - her body of work, especially during the latter stages of her career says otherwise; she's played different characters & she tried to break away from the nice girl image that she has initially built up, but it's the films themselves: they were not always the multi-million box office sellers I've come to expect, especially coming from a former Oscar and Golden Globe winner & nominee, and post-Leaving Las Vegas these have not been noteworthy. Shue should have done more mainstream, commercial movies and good ones too. Yet very few of her films had barely any real quality going for them and in especially where she bagged bit-part roles or as a foil to the lead, most of them just never really pushed and challenged Shue as an actress as much as they should have done. Although she has done a few films in recent years, so it kept her busy.
Right after Leaving Las Vegas, she should have taken advantage of and capitalised on her success and tried to press on and aim for higher, bigger and better roles after that, but alas, Shue didn't do that & she made movies general moviegoers didn't care for, movies that were easily forgotten about, as well as movies that would've been rejected by many A-list actresses.
As a result, her post-Oscar-nominated comeback - in reference to Leaving Las Vegas-, proved to be brief.
Shue was more of an actress than a star than Meg Ryan and countless other big-name '90s actresses around at the time, who were (arguably) more famed for being stars than performers. With Adventures in Babysitting and Back To The Future, I believe that having established herself through those movies, she should have done a couple of more of those types of films. Not to say that playing against type is a bad thing for Shue, but the commercial, popular appeal, the fun side that they evoke, that is what she should have amounted to and aimed for, especially to boost her star power. Shue is an actress and a good one, but as a star, she should have been bigger. If it worked the first time for Shue with Adventures in Babysitting, Back To The Future, why not continue with this, as well as carving out decent and worthwhile dramas & thrillers to supplement it?
Elisabeth Shue has bags of talent and that longevity of experience, which was key to her doing so well in the 1980s, but that level of consistency and success just never carried over during the next two decades, the 1990s (where she did extremely well in Soapdish & Leaving Las Vegas, but that is pretty much it) & 2000s wherein Hollow Man all but ended her reign. She hasn't had more of the popular and highest grossing movies to really demonstrate her worth and it's a particular factor that differentiates her from other notable actresses of the same age range as herself, & yet of whom have far more successful careers. That, and she needed to provide something unique through her image as a star to not only set her apart but to really get audiences talking as well.
Notable Favourites: Adventures In Babysitting, Soapdish, Leaving Las Vegas, The Karate Kid
Notable Non-Favourites: The Saint, Hollow Man (for her character especially), Piranha, Behaving Badly, Molly, Death Wish (2018)
Sources:
Elizabeth Shue- Wikipedia
Elizabeth Shue - Biography
