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Title: Miscast and Not That Funny
Review: This film should have been a laughfest given Jacqueline Susann's campy lifestyle and wild excess but things just don't go well here. Part of the problem is a story which can't decide whether to be funny or serious. You feel badly for Susann and her husband Irving Mansfield after their son Guy has to be institutionalized but that sympathy evaporates when they visit the hapless child only to perform their schtick in front of him. Bette Midler is padded and overly made-up to look like a fat yenta but she veers toward self-parody. Nathan Lane is way too effete for his role as Irving Mansfield but Stockard Channing (who should have played Susann) and David Hyde Pierce are spot-on.
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