The 24 Hour Woman (1999)

Great Film overall

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

I was actually disappointed in Nancy Savoca's "24-Hour Woman" starring the ever wonderful Rosie Perez, though I didn't tell local movie reviewer/ex-Mayor Ed Koch that when he walked in for the next showing with a sour face as if he already expected it to be bad. I told him it was enjoyable, which it was. I avoided seeing "Parenthood" and "Baby Boom" so I don't know if this in fact raises different, more authentic issues. Certainly tossed off lines are quite accurate and very funny, and are reflective of the thank you at the end of the credits to the many people who shared their "war stories" with the writers. (I guess I'm not the only one who felt like a POW at home with a baby who wouldn't sleep.)But Savoca didn't reach far enough. While the secondary character does have school-age kids, hardly any attention is paid to the child care etc. problems of that age, as opposed to the baby woes of the lead, which in fact have been dealt with much more in popular entertainment, such as "Mad About You" (I always remind people that they are not just having a baby but having a person; babyhood is a very small percentage of the lifetime you're responsible for 24-7.) Perez unrealistically working in a glamorous job is used for funny effect in the climax and also is the opportunity for deft jabs at talk shows and the media, but she's also working surrounded by women, mostly mothers in fact, so other issues aren't dealt with as well. So it seems to be the intent to just deal with a few issues, amusingly enough, but with no new insights, but at least some clichés are avoided (I thought all such movies had to include infidelity, but I think they wanted to challenge the Latin lover macho cliché, and there's also a very positive black father).It just feels a few years old. And this is certainly the kind of movie where it's hopeless to expect a quiet audience as everyone talks back to what's happening on screen. This movie is less for parents to whom it will be like being back home than for those contemplating parenthood in the future. Ah but will there be a run on birth control pills after this?(originally written 2/15/1999)

This is a predictable parable about juggling a career and a family. There really is nothing original in it and the frenetic pace is sometimes unnerving. But the film lost me with its excessive and needless profanity. This is ultimately a picture about family. But here, although the F word is used relentlessly, it doesn't stand for "family."

The 24 HOUR WOMAN is great. Too bad many people didn't see it. Rent or buy the video. The much maligned Rosie Perez gives a knockout performance in the title role, enhanced by her character's assistant, an unrecognizable Marianne Jean-Baptiste ("Secrets and Lies") with an impeccable American accent, a 24 hour woman herself. Patti Lupone as the wicked boss is at her most ferociously evil. Only Glenn Close may have been able to vilify this character as the superb Patti LuPone does (We see too little of her on the screen, so take advantage of this film to see this terrific actress in a deliciously despicable role). A good script addressing contemporary issues, and creative cinematography in real New York settings further contribute to this film's appeal.

It squanders an opportunity to be about the class differences between a working-class Black woman (Jean-Baptiste) and her boss (Rosie Perez, who despite the cast list above, is the focus of the entire film) and settles for all the cliches about juggling work and family duty. It's directed incompetently, worst than most television programs, with an inbalanced story structure and lazy, imprecise screenplay.