Soapdish (1991)

You won't be disappointed!

The Worst Film Ever

Just perfect...

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

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 ****

This is an absolutely entertaining film from open to close. Fine for your 12 and up kids, hilarious, and oh so charming. It is a classic at our house! Kevin Kline and Sally Field are magic together. The film's premise, characters, script, and direction are simply delightful.This is the kind of movie that SHOULD have been nominated for some Academy Awards, but wasn't. You can watch it time after time and laugh again, and share it with new friends and family members.If you enjoy comedy, and if you've ever seen even five minutes of a real daytime soap opera, you'll enjoy this funny, sweet comedy. It's one of our favorites.

OK the plot is that these people are fed up with actress Celeste Talbert after winning an award and Montana Moorhead and David Barnes are more than sick of seeing her get all the hype so what happens is they hire an actor that plays in a nowhere-near-successful-play-theatre Death of A Salesman who is named Jeffrey Anderson so what David here does is hire them when also a subplot goes around about actress Lori Craven which made me actually realise that Elizabeth Shue isn't a bad actress after all just made some horrid choices. eventually she acts on the soap opera (which soap opera's are about as much fun as thorns through your skin) the acting (on the set of the soap opera) is in the category of "so bad its funny". The twist makes the movie even funnier. When it comes to bad writing the writers were trying to make the soap opera bad...at least it would be better than the crap that gets praised on TV that is in the "Bad" category. The writing full stop is good. The acting enough said (You have a cast that won Oscars back in the day they gave their awards to popular movies). All in all a great movie."She's A Boy"Don't Ask

It's very very funny. You know, just like a comedy is supposed to be. It also looks very very good, like a Hollywood Spectacular should. So, what more do you want? Howz about a very VERY good Sally Fields. She is so much better here than in anything else I've ever seen her in, and she looks so damn good. This movie is all you need to understand why she's a Star. Those eyes! Like a silent movie star, but better. In fact, everyone's eyes are so good. I used to pretend to be a bad TV soap actor with my girlfriend. We'd do that thing where you look real fast from one eye to the other of your partner. They don't do that at all in Soap Dish. Great. The Eyes Have It! (sorry) There's so many terrific performances, its fun just waiting for each of them to reappear. There's a whole workshop going on with Kevin Kline on how to Overact very very subtly. Got that? Yeah, he's damn good. So is Robert Downey, Jr. who has since made sumthin of a career of playing the Slick, Slimy Executive. Cathy Moriarity, while not the most gifted actress, is so charismatic and riveting, especially when she's angry. And even Whoopi Goldberg is decent, her natural timing giving here somewhat flat delivery a little Zing. OK, no Whoopi Bashing, I hear ya.And then, there's the Hair. Soap Dish was made at the end of the BIG Hair Eighties, so the ridiculous doos are like a great character in themselves. They get bigger and sillier, just like your's did. Yeah, we got pictures.Soap Dish is better than I thought it'd be, better that I wanted it to be. I'm sick of Movies that tell me I'm supposed to care about shallow, self centered, semi-talented egomaniacs, ie. TV Soap Actors. Soap Dish seems happy just to have me laugh at 'em. Thank You.