Mistress (1992)
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69% of critics liked it
(16 reviews) -
35% of users liked it
(541 ratings)
Successful character actor Barry Primus spent seven years trying to get financing for his feature debut as a writer-director, Mistress. In the film, a once-promising writer-director, Marvin Landisman (Robert Wuhl), who now directs instructional videos, is sitting home one night, watching his own… More Successful character actor Barry Primus spent seven years trying to get financing for his feature debut as a writer-director, Mistress. In the film, a once-promising writer-director, Marvin Landisman (Robert Wuhl), who now directs instructional videos, is sitting home one night, watching his own print of Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion, when he gets a strange phone call. A producer, Jack Roth (Martin Landau), formerly a bigwig at Universal, tells Marvin he was cleaning out his office when he came across Marvin's old script, "The Darkness and the Light." Jack claims he can get financing to make the film, and agrees to Marvin's stipulation that he be attached to direct. They "take a meeting" at a low-rent diner, and Jack brings along a gung-ho novice screenwriter, Stuart (Jace Alexander), to help Marvin polish the script. They meet with three potential backers, played by Eli Wallach, Danny Aiello, and Robert DeNiro, each one more meddlesome than the last, and each with a girlfriend (played by Tuesday Knight, Jean Smart, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, respectively) whom they demand be cast in the film. At first, Marvin adamantly resists changing his serious, downbeat, and very personal script, about an painter who commits suicide, rather than betray his ideals. But eventually, Marvin gets caught up in the momentum of actually getting his dream project made, and starts compromising. He agrees to cast the three women; he agrees to make the script funnier and sexier; he even agrees to change the painter to a photographer to please his backers. Laurie Metcalf plays Marvin's long-suffering wife, and Christopher Walken has a cameo as a tortured actor. Mistress was the first film produced by DeNiro's independent production company, Tribeca Films. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
- Directed By
- Barry Primus
- Written By
- Barry Primus, J.F. Lawton
- Genres
- Comedy
R,
- In Theaters
- Jun 1, 1991 Wide
- On DVD
- Mar 23, 1999
- Studio
- Live Home Video
Critic Reviews
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David Stratton, Variety
Can't seem to decide if it's supposed to be a comedy about Hollywood small-timers trying to get an indie pic off the ground, or a somber drama in which greed and lust overwhelm art.
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Derek Adams, Time Out
The gags are too obvious; the conflict between art and money is hackneyed; and the plot goes badly off the rails in the later reels.
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Stephen Holden, New York Times
"Mistress" abounds with sharp comic performances that never stray into caricature or sentimentality.
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Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Seeing Mistress is like getting a bad table at the in Hollywood restaurant. You're eavesdropping on all the dull conversations.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The movie has been described as a low-rent version of Robert Altman's "The Player," but it would be more accurate to say it's about low-rent players.
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Cast
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Robert Wuhl
as Marvin Landisman
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Martin Landau
as Jack Roth
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Robert De Niro
as Evan M. Wright
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Danny Aiello
as Carmine Rasso
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Eli Wallach
as George Lieberhoff
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Jace Alexander
as Stuart Stratland Jr.
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Tuesday Knight
as Peggy
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Sheryl Lee Ralph
as Beverly
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Christopher Walken
as Warren Zell
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Laurie Metcalf
as Rachel Landisman
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Jean Smart
as Patricia Riley
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Frida S. Aradottir
as Mrs. Evan M. Wright
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Tim Bagley
as Mitch's Singing Student
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Gretchen Becker
as Hamburger Girl
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Ernest Borgnine
as Himself
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Jerome Dempsey
as Mitch
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Dimitri Dimitrov
as Maitre d'
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Stefan Gierasch
as Stratland Sr.
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Deirdre Hade
as Party Goer
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Dawn Hopper
as Mitch's Singing Student
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Debbie James
as Mitch's Singing Student
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Kate Lang Johnson
as Party Guest
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Peter Kalos
as Party Goer
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Michael F. Kelley
as Guard at Gate
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Mary Mercier
as Shelby's Waitress
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Raphaela Rose Primus
as Raphaela Wright
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Bill Rotko
as Valet
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Vasek Simek
as Hans
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Nina Small
as Mitch's Singing Student
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Tomas R. Voth
as Stagehand
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Roberta Wallach
as Nancy
- Tuesday Weld
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Eileen Wilkinson
as Astrologer
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Byron Simpson
as Mitch's Singing Student
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Chuck Low
as Benrie
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Leata Galloway
as Mitch's Singing Student
