Isn't She Great (2000)
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25% of critics liked it
(61 reviews) -
41% of users liked it
(2,589 ratings)
Jacqueline Susann spent a long career on the edges of show business as an actress and model, but it never really paid off until she quit acting to write her first novel. Valley of the Dolls was a proudly sleazy potboiler that sold 26 million copies and had readers wondering which characters matched… More Jacqueline Susann spent a long career on the edges of show business as an actress and model, but it never really paid off until she quit acting to write her first novel. Valley of the Dolls was a proudly sleazy potboiler that sold 26 million copies and had readers wondering which characters matched up to which real-life show-biz figures. Susann wrote several other successful novels, but fame and fortune didn't make her life any less tumultuous; she had well-publicized problems with drugs and alcohol and a series of free-wheeling affairs, although she stayed with her husband Irving Mansfield until her death in 1974 at the age of 56. Isn't She Great is a screen biography that focuses on Susann's roller-coaster literary career, with Bette Midler as Susann and Nathan Lane as Mansfield; David Hyde Pierce, Stockard Channing, John Cleese, and Sarah Jessica Parker round out the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Andrew Bergman
- Written By
- Paul Rudnick
- Genres
- Drama, Comedy
R,
- In Theaters
- Jan 28, 2000 Wide
- On DVD
- Jul 18, 2000
- Studio
- Universal Studios Home Video
Critic Reviews
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Emanuel Levy, Variety
The most notable aspect of this trashy (but unenjoyable) biopic of Jacquleine Susann, Valley of the Doll's best-selling author, is its running time (93 minutes); Bette Midler and Nathan Lane give two of their worst and broadest performances.
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Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
The movie is a stinker, but it's not an enjoyable stinker.
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Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The filmmakers don't know what to make of their overblown subject.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Here is a movie that needed great trash, great sex and great gossip, and at all the crucial moments Susann is talking to a tree.
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Jay Carr, Boston Globe
A surprisingly warm and engaging entertainment.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Bette Midler
as Jacqueline Susann
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Nathan Lane
as Irving Mansfield
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Stockard Channing
as Florence Maybelle
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David Hyde Pierce
as Michael Hastings
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John Cleese
as Henry Marcus
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John Larroquette
as Maury Manning
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Amanda Peet
as Debbie Klausman
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David Lawrence
as Steve Lawrence
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Debbie Gravitte
as Eydie Gorme
- Jack Eagle
- Christopher McDonald
- Dina Spybey
- Jeffrey Ross
- Leslie Barnette
- Paul Benedict
- Terence Ross
