Bette Midler

Hocus Pocus

This big, fat theatrical bomb has a lot going for it. There's the three leads, Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker, playing three resurrected witches who wreak havoc on Salem, Massachusetts, 300 hundred years after they were hung. There's music, special effects, and magic. There's a surprisingly horror-filled plot. Whoops, hold up on that last one. It's probably the extremes that this film goes to (displaying a Disney label), such as the witches sucking the life out of a little girl in the first five minutes, that put the brakes on any success for Hocus Pocus. Older children, however, in the 8 and up range should get a kick out of all the weird goings-on. It's a good measure of Halloween thrills and chills. --Keith Simanton

You're in for a devil of a time when three outlandishly wild witches -- Bette Midler (BEACHES BIG BUSINESS) Sarah Jessica Parker (HONEYMOON IN VEGAS) and Kathy Najimy (SISTER ACT) -- return from 17th-century Salem after they're accidentally conjured up by some unsuspecting pranksters! It's a night full of zany fun and comic chaos once the tricky 300-year-old trio sets out to cast a spell on the town and reclaim their youth -- but first they must get their act together and outwit three kids and a talking cat! Loaded with bewitching laughs HOCUS POCUS is an outrageously wild comedy that's sure to entertain everyone!Bonus Features Producer David Kirschner came up with the idea for the movie one night while he and his young daughter were sitting outside and his neighbor's black cat strayed by. Kirschner began to unspool a narrative of how the cat was once a boy who was changed into a feline 300 years ago by three witches.Actress Kathy Najimy described her character Mary as "Eddie Haskell as a witch" referring to the character on the classic TV series "Leave It To Beaver." "She sucks up to Winifred [Bette Midler's character] every chance she gets. She wants to be part of the power club and Winifred's got the power." To create the costumes designer Mary Vogt read many historical books about Salem Massachusetts. "I even read diaries of women who were hanged as witches" she says.System Requirements: Runing Time 96 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: PG UPC: 717951003584 Manufacturer No: 01775800

Big Business

Two sets of identical twins, separated at birth and reared in drastically different environments, are reunited in the big city of Manhattan, for a series of comedic mishaps.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 13-JAN-2004
Media Type: DVD

Ruthless People

A milestone comedy of the 1980s, Ruthless People delighted critics and audiences alike and set the tone of Hollywood comedies for years to come. Along with that other popular farce about wealthy Californians, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, this ingenious romp revived Bette Midler's career and launched Disney (by way of its subsidiary, Touchstone Pictures) into the lucrative production of R-rated comedies; it also ensured the star power of then-TV star Danny DeVito. Dale Launer became Hollywood's hot screenwriter du jour by cleverly reworking O. Henry's Ransom of Red Chief into a wicked tale of marital malice heightened by a bungled kidnapping. Midler is sublime as the victim of low-rent abductors ("I've been kidnapped by Kmart!"), and DeVito's the gleeful philanderer who refuses to pay ransom for his wife's unwanted return. With Anita Morris, Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater, and Bill Pullman among the plot-twisting schemers, the movie's so much fun that an eventual remake seems almost inevitable. --Jeff Shannon

In this fiendishly funny comedy from the creators of AIRPLANE!, loathesome millionaire Sam Stone (Danny DeVito) is ruthless. How ruthless? When his shrill wife Barbara (Bette Midler) is nabbed by inept kidnappers (Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater), Sam cries tears of joy ... and refuses to pay the ransom. And when the abductors threaten to kill the abrasive heiress, Sam takes immediate action -- he celebrates! RUTHLESS PEOPLE. Raucous ... outlandish ... one of the top box office hits of the year!

The First Wives Club

Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, and Diane Keaton prove that revenge is a dish best served cold. Former college buddies, they reunite at the funeral of a dear friend who took a swan dive onto Fifth Avenue. All three discover they share the same unhappy history of husbands who dove into middle-age by dumping them for trophy wives. Forming a warring triumvirate, they decide to get even, and along the way remind themselves of long-forgotten capabilities. The action gets a little too "wacky" at times, but the gals are great. Portraying an aging actress, Hawn is sometimes a little too flamboyant, but there is much fun to be had in her flashiness, especially when she pokes fun at Tinseltown and her persona. Instead of her usual brashness, Midler stretches herself and shows us a woman who is not just unhappy, but also deeply sorrowful. Not that she isn't quick with a wisecrack, but her expressive face alone tells the story of her marriage. As the repressed and guilt-ridden spouse of a self- involved ad executive, Keaton finds her anger, and her voice, when her psychiatrist (Marcia Gay Harden) oversteps ethical boundaries. Watching Keaton grow from an ineffectual homemaker into a powerful businessperson reminds us that it has been far too long since she has done a comedy. Director Hugh Wilson smartly chose supporting players who each brought something unique to the film. However, he does not maintain the first hour's effervescent humor throughout the film, as the ending is weakened by a softening of the wives' resolve. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Three Manhatttan first wives band together to take their due from the men who used them, abused them, then dumped them for a younger model.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 2-JAN-2007
Media Type: DVD

What Women Want

A Chicago advertising exec Nick Marshall (Mel Gibson) gets a whole new outlook on life when a fluke accident gives him the ability to read women's minds. At first this gift provides Nick with way too much information but he begins to realize that he can use it to good effect especially when it comes to outwitting his new boss Darcy McGuire (Helen Hunt). In spite of his best efforts to finesse Darcy he soon finds himself falling in love and ultimately understanding what women want.System Requirements:Starring: Mel Gibson Judy Greer Sarah Paulson Ana Gasteyer Diana-Maria Riva Lisa Edelstein Loretta Devine Helen Hunt Marisa Tomei Alan Alda Ashley Johnson Mark Feuerstein Lauren Holly Delta Burke and Valerie Perrine. Directed By: Nancy Meyers. Running Time: 90 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 Paramount Pictures.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 097363383840

It must've made for a great pitch meeting: Male chauvinist advertising executive gains the ability to hear the thoughts of any woman around him. Add Mel Gibson--as Nick, the divorced "man's man" who can charm almost any woman into bed--and you've got high-concept comedy made in Hollywood heaven, right? Not necessarily. The smartest thing director Nancy Meyers did with What Women Want is dispose of this ludicrous plot contrivance before it wears out its welcome. It's fun to see Mel react to a deafening chorus of female thoughts, but his dubious "gift"--courtesy of an accidental electro-shock in his bathtub--is a mixed blessing for the audience. The women in Nick's life conveniently think in complete sitcom-friendly sentences, and the novelty quickly wears thin.

The movie improves by focusing on the fallout of Nick's predicament. Exploiting his unfair advantage, he sabotages the career of his new boss (Helen Hunt) even as he's falling in love with her; says all the right things to the aspiring actress (Marisa Tomei) who previously spurned his advances; and uses mind reading to curry favor with his 15-year-old daughter (Ashley Johnson). This two-faced scheming isn't malicious, however, and What Women Want is blessed by Gibson's amiably nuanced performance. His graceful riff on Fred Astaire is a dazzling surprise, and as Nick reforms, Gibson takes major credit for whatever depth this movie achieves. After a bit of nonsense, What Women Want has a lot to say about male and female behavior, be it noble or unappealing. It's both amusing and truthful, and that's almost as fun as a glimpse into someone else's brain. --Jeff Shannon

Outrageous Fortune

Sometimes a movie works despite all its faults. Outrageous Fortune has a flimsy, formulaic script, so-so production values, and an odd combination of stars, but somehow it's engaging and fun. Shelley Long and Bette Midler play two struggling actresses--one a hoity-toity priss and the other a brassy slob--who learn they've been sleeping with the same guy (Peter Coyote) when he gets blown up in a terrorist assault and they confront each other in the morgue. When they discover that he's still alive, the bickering pair track him down, traipsing across the U.S. in high heels, pursued all the way by government agents, using their dubious acting talents to get them out of tough situations. The absurd plot keeps things moving and director Arthur Hiller (Silver Streak, The Out of Towners) gets cheerful performances out of everyone, particularly the strong supporting cast--including Robert Prosky (Broadcast News, Mrs. Doubtfire) as a pompous acting teacher, comedian George Carlin as a burnt-out would-be Indian, and the underused John Schuck (M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller) as a long-suffering agent. Contrived, cliché-ridden, but just absurd enough to entertain. --Bret Fetzer

Lauren (Shelley Long, THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE) is refinement, regimentation, and ballet slippers. Sandy (Bette Midler, THE FIRST WIVES CLUB) is brassy, bossy, and stiletto heels. They meet and it's hate at first sight. But these two opposites are shocked to discover a common bond: They share the same boyfriend -- a handsome schoolteacher (Peter Coyote, RANDOM HEARTS) who mysteriously and conveniently disappears. Mr. Right wronged them ... and when they decide to track the scoundrel down, they're thrown together in a cross-country pursuit for better or worse ... mosty for worse! Brilliantly cast and deviously written, this racy, riotous comedy provides sidesplitting laughs of outrageous proportions!

Gypsy

This faithful broadcast TV remake of the classic Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim musical looms as a career triumph for top-lined Bette Midler--and a bittersweet measurement of how far mainstream film and TV have retreated from the glories of musical theater. By the time Midler, as the mother of all stage mothers, observes, "I was born too early and started too late," it's only too obvious that the star's words are an ironic inversion. Had Midler been born earlier, she certainly would have reigned as a major musical comedy star. In a role form-fitted to Ethel Merman's brassy persona and brassier voice, Midler more than holds her ground musically and, especially, dramatically.

Titled partly for its source, the life of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, Gypsy alludes as well to the itinerant life of her family. The show's focal point isn't the titular character, but rather her manipulative mother, Mama Rose (Midler), who channels her own frustrated dreams of stardom into Baby June, the curly blonde daughter who always eclipses sister Louise. The story follows Rose's machinations as she tirelessly reinvents June to defy the passage of time and even puberty itself. By the time Louise herself conquers the marquee as Gypsy Rose Lee, Rose's single-minded focus has alienated her long-suffering lover and agent, Herbie (a well-cast Peter Riegert), and surrendered to the inherent compromise of burlesque.

Midler's Rose reveals glimpses of vulnerability and a delusional monstrousness that provide a dark, gritty subtext. Studded with wonderful songs, the Styne/Sondheim score underlines those themes deftly, especially in Sondheim's multileveled lyrics. This Gypsy also benefits from uniformly nifty casting: in addition to Reigert (Crossing Delancey, Local Hero), Cynthia Gibb slowly blooms as Louise, and Jennifer Rae Beck, Andrea Martin, Christine Ebersole, and erstwhile new-wave singer Rachel Sweet are delights. --Sam Sutherland

It's multi-award winner Bette Midler in the role she was born to play. This Emmy winning superstar delivers a "standing room only" performance as Mama Rose the ultimate vaudeville stage mother. Rose's ambition for her two daughters forces one to desert her and the other to emerge as the world's most famous striptease artist-Gypsy Rose Lee.System Requirements: Running Time 150 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: NR UPC: 707729172062 Manufacturer No: 17206

For the Boys

For the Boys is a lumpy attempt to create an old-fashioned backstage drama, replete with classic showbiz feuds, breakups and make-ups, and the often inexplicable adoration of fictional fans toward characters with dubious star appeal. Released under a cloud of accusations that the story was ripped off from the life of USO stalwart Martha Raye (who had been attempting to get an autobiographical film project set up), For the Boys didn't improve its public relations by being, well, not very good. Bette Midler stars as Dixie Leonard, a singer plucked from obscurity by song-and-dance man Eddie Sparks (James Caan) while on a USO tour during World War II. Their bawdy chemistry before audiences makes them a durable act through many years and wars to come. The problem is that they don't like each other very much, and here's where director Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond) drops the ball: the film never develops sufficient story grounds or the emotional complexity necessary for a high degree of conflict in what is essentially a two-character drama. It doesn't help that the script requires Dixie and Eddie to be on nonspeaking terms for most of the 50 years they know one another, or that the story culminates in a horribly contrived reunion on television, with both actors buried under enough flesh-aging prosthetics and make-up to make them look like Dick Tracy villains. --Tom Keogh

Bette Midler gives the brassiest, sassiest performance of her career as Dixie Leonard, a USO singer whose electrifying stage presence, and flair for outrageous comedy, captivates troops and civilians alike. Teamed up with America's beloved song and dance man, Eddie Sparks (James Caan), the whole world becomes Dixie's stage through three very different wars, and 50 years of music and memories, laughter and tears. All of it... FOR THE BOYS.

That Old Feeling

Carl Reiner made this enjoyable romantic farce about a divorced couple who commence an affair at their daughter's wedding. Reiner lets the idea bounce around the story's setting and characters so that the full comic effect of the illicit relationship can be felt more chaotically, building on its own irony. Bette Midler and Dennis Farina are quite believable and likable as the not-so-estranged-anymore couple, and Paula Marshall is very good as their exasperated daughter. Not a masterpiece, but one of Reiner's best films in years, with a distinctively European flavor to the comedy. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, production notes, cast and crew bios, theatrical trailer, Dolby sound, optional Spanish and French soundtracks, and optional Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh

Divine Madness

Audacious, brazen, funny, and perhaps the unconscious inspiration for Madonna's shows, Divine Madness makes an absolute spectacle of itself. Bette Midler's raunchy, entertaining persona is on high in this concert film filmed in Pasadena. Midler tells dirty jokes, berates herself and the audience, and most of all belts out (some may say shrieks out) covers of Bruce Springsteen and rock and swing classics. Somewhere between "Everything's Comin' Up Roses" and "Vogue," Midler seems a bridge between eras, that of burlesque, do-anything-to-please-'em showmanship and shocking, pyrotechnic exhibitionism and aloofness. (A hint at just how old this 1980 movie feels, Midler unabashedly makes a reference to Georgie Jessel!) Directed by Michael Ritchie, whose Smile and The Bad New Bears were interesting takes on America, Divine is also a slice of the American experience. It's dirty enough to be fun and clean enough to stay just this side of bawdy. That used to be a fine American tradition. Note: The songs "Shiver Me Timbers" and "Rainbow Sleeve," which appeared in the theatrical release of this picture, are not included in this DVD. That's a shame because with Midler, more is more. --Keith Simanton