Working Girl

Rating:
Summary: Fast liner's dream came true
Review: As a game player in offce politics, you could either fly high or sink deep(odds are against you most of the time-the house always win, while this film showing an exception in a hollywood way)...

Rating:
Summary: Smirking Girl
Review: When a movie tries to combine elements of essentially farcical comedy with more "high-concept" or "consciousness-raising" stuff, it's not a sure formula for a misfire, but it certainly flirts with one. And this movie cerainly is such a misfire. I once read Roger Ebert's review of BILLY JACK. He said something to the effect that its makers seem to have lost faith in democracy and call upon us instead to pull for the good fascists defeating the bad fascists. It's been years since I've seen BILLY JACK, and, although never highly motivated to see it again, I'd need to to assess the accuracy of that characterization. But just replace the word "fascists" with the phrase "corporate wheeler-dealers" in the above, and you've pretty well got the theme of WORKING GIRL (I suppose some ardent anti-capitalists might say corporate wheeler-dealers are a form of fascists, but I won't go that far). This movie won an Oscar for best song with a song proclaiming "The New Jerusalem". Funny how the same year Christian groups raised a fury of protest over THE LAST TEMPTATIOPN OF CHRIST, so much so that that movie is only just now becoming routinely available in video stores (at least where I live). At least THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST was honest and forthright in expressing its alternative view of the Christian story; that's freedom of expression as it was best meant to work. A much worse and insidious form if insensitivity to a religion consists in casually invoking its concepts in such a way as to trivialize them. That is just what WORKING GIRL does through its unfortunately Oscar-winning song. In the Bible, the New Jerusalem represents the most final and complete victory of God over all evil -- a new state of existence in which "every tear shall be wiped away". It could scarcely be more removed from something so mundane as the good corporate wheeler-dealers defeating the bad corporate wheeler-dealers. Melanie Griffith was nominated for best actress for this movie. When Ebert and his late lamented partner Gene Siskel did their "If we picked the winners" for that year, they speculated on her chances and those of her four competing nominees. A particularly incomprehensible idea put forth was that a nominee who played someone "not nice" would be less popular and hence her chances of winning diminished. Of all things, they singled out Meryl Streep in A CRY IN THE DARK, as the one allegedly playing "not nice". While Streep's character may not have been exactly miss congeniality, I find her singling out uncomprehensible. Glenn Close (robbed of best actress the previous year for a much more stunning performance) played an outright villain in her nominated performance that year. Whatever the real Dian Fossey may have been like, Sigourney Weaver's depiction of her was as scary and demented a character as one could ever imagine being nonetheless heroic. And Jodie Foster (who was to be the winner) played as arrogant a jerk as we'd ever want to imagine thrust into a protagonist role. Were it a niceness contest, I'd far and away take Meryl Streep's character over any of those and over Melanie Griffith's portrayal of an impossibly absurd combination of Machiavelli and Goody Two-shoes in WORKING GIRL.

Rating:
Summary: Ethically questionable but otherwise superb
Review: I missed this film in theatrical release, but manage to watch it whenever I can on television. I recently purchased the DVD only to discover that there were several generally amusing scenes in the trailer that never made it into the movie - a bit of a mystery.

The screenplay for this movie starts with a somewhat shaky premise that the means justify the end - that if you can't get an honest break but happen to work for an unethical boss who steals your ideas and gives you no credit, you can be as manipulative as you wish to get a chance to show how smart you are. This is hardly a palatable business lesson, ladies and gentlemen, and I have to fight down my qualms about this with every viewing.

That said, and with that reservation, as a movie, it has a lot going for it: seamless direction by Mike Nichols; flawless ensemble acting from Melanie Griffiths, Sigourney Weaver, Harrison Ford (sigh!), Joan Cusack (with the most outrageous eye makeup in history)and people like Oliver Platt, Kevin Spacy and David Duchovny in tiny parts; great love scenes - humorous, tender and not too graphic; an optimistic ending; and one of the best songs ever written by Carly Simon.

But, oh my, the beginning of this movie caught me totally off guard! In a literally breath-taking helicopter pan around Lady Liberty and New York Harbor, the shot of lower Manhattan of course comes to rest on the World Trade Center towers, soaring and golden in the morning sunlight before the camera pans down to pick up the characters commuting to New York on the Staten Island Ferry. Beautiful, timeless, tragic.

Rating:
Summary: Melanie Griffith's only decent film
Review: This movie is a must have - one that you can watch at least once a year. It is entertaining with fine performances from Sig Weaver and Melanie Griffith. Despite Melanie being a very average actor, her style works in this movie. The type of character required ie. ditzy blonde, meant she could just be herself really. On top of that, her baby voice works for the role. Working Girl is a beaut comedy focussing on an unlikely rise to the top, but when you think about it carefully, it shows that anyone, can get to where they want to, if they have the determination and guts. This is a good message to get across, I feel. Working Girl could have made Melanie a big star but it didnt quite open the doors she thought it would. She may have got more roles after this, but not one of them was worth watching! I refer to flops like Bonfire Vanities, Stormy Monday (plain urgh!), Shining Through, and one with ex hubby Don Johnson - the title escapes me. I think Melanie's inability to get rid of that baby voice killed her career really.

Rating:
Summary: Perfectly Cast Movie!
Review: Contrary to some of the reviewers, I believe Melanie was the perfect choice for lead in this movie. The most unforgettable scene in this movie is her sitting on the bar stool at the business party where she's overdressed but stunning and after drinking too much tequila, delivers her most memorable line to Harrision Ford, "I've got a head for business and a bod for sin, Is there anything wrong with that?" This movie has stunning NYC scenery, Hilarious supporting cast and great music. One of my all-time favorites.

Rating:
Summary: A Smart Romantic Comedy
Review: Melanie Griffith in the role of her life. Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Cusack, Alec Baldwin and the remainder of the cast are at the absolute TOP of their game - and Ms. Griffith more than holds her own in a difficult role. Difficult to realistically portray a Staten-Island Secretary who has ambition but all the cards stacked against her as a sympathetic character, but Griffith succeeds. You WANT her to succeed, and Melanie's "Tess" does.

Rating:
Summary: A delight from beginning to end
Review: By far Melanie Griffith's best film, and Harrison Ford is a wonderful foil. Joan Cusack is very funny and Sigourney Weaver is the perfect maneater. And look for bits by Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey -- I never knew they were in it. Carly Simon's song certainly has gotten hot all over again after September 11th, judging by those moving TV commercials. (...) It's a Cinderella story, for good reason -- Weaver is the wicked stepmother who gets her come-up-ins. We always applaud good over evil -- those are values everyone understands (except her apparently). Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: What's not to like?
Review: This movie has it all - charm, suspense, comedy, and Harrison Ford - all wrapped up in a great movie that you can watch over and over. Harrison Ford gets caught between two women of the corporate world. His heart leads him to love one while his head tells him to do what is best for the company. Lucky for him it happens to be the same woman!

Rating:
Summary: A slap in the face to feminism
Review: An anti-feminist backlash film. The values shown here are not values I'd want my kids learning. Why? In it, Tess is having a tough time getting ahead & has to deal with rotten bosses who don't take her seriously, esp. since she's the stereotypical blond beauty with a high kidlike voice. The ironic thing is that in the beginning (the scenery of NYC is beautiful, I admit), a great shot of Ms. Liberty is shown & Tess' commuter boat passes her every morning. Tess is understandably frusterated by her lack of progress beyond secretarial work. I thought it didn't do justice to Sigourny Weaver to portray her as this cold-hearted "career" woman who ruthlessly steals Tess' idea, then lies to her . I can see Tess being mad about it, but Tess also did wrong by misrepresenting herself as a middle-management person & misleading the others. And of course, it plays up that she's the only woman among middle-aged men. The troubling thing is that Tess actually gets ahead by being dishonest, which implies that dishonesty is the only way for a woman to succeed in the workplace, not a value I'd want my daughter learning! And to add insult to injury, Tess retaliates against Katharine by publicly humiliating her, then gloating when she's fired, & her officemates clap. I think it's a mockery of poor Lady Liberty to show her in a film that's an insult to working women fighting sexism!

Rating:
Summary: Working Girl
Review: Very well done. Great acting and humorous. Simply quality entertainment and a must to see.