SOAPDISH [1991 / 2022] [Blu-ray] [USA Release]
The Most Hilarious Unadulterated Comedy Classic
Sally Field leads an all-star cast that includes Kevin Kline, Robert Downey, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Cathy Moriarty, Teri Hatcher, Elisabeth Shue, Carrie Fisher and Kathy Najimy in this hilarious look at a scandal-ridden TV soap opera. America's hottest television “soap” is ‘THE SUN ALSO SETS,’ where the drama is intense both on-screen and off. Soon, everyone’s dirty laundry has piled up, and everyone’s in hot water. It’s an unadulterated comedy classic co-written by Robert Harlin (‘STEEL MAGNOLIAS’) and Andrew Bergman (‘THE IN-LAWS’).
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1992 American Comedy Awards: Nominated: Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role) for Kevin Kline. Nominated: Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role) for Sally Field. Nominated: Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role) for Whoopi Goldberg. Nominated: Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Cathy Moriarty. 1992 Golden Globes: Nominated: Golden Globes Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for Kevin Kline.
FILM FACT No.2: Andrew Bergman was called in to write the script. “I thought it was a fun picture and a wonderful cast. I wasn’t on the set all that much, but whenever I was, it seemed perfectly agreeable.” Stephen Nichols, an actor on the daytime drama "Santa Barbara," appears as himself in the film. The name of the fictional soap opera is, “The Sun Also Sets” which is a take-off on the title of Ernest Hemingway's first novel, “The Sun Also Rises.” It could also allude to various soap opera titles, “As the World Turns” and “Days of Our Lives” among them.
Cast: Cathy Moriarty, Teri Hatcher, Robert Downey Jr., Sally Field, Paul Johansson, Elisabeth Shue, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Kline, Arne Nannestad, Tim Choate, Kathy Najimy, Carrie Fisher, Costas Mandylor, Cornelia Kiss, Robert Camiletti, Marianne Muellerleile, Mary Pat Gleason, Michael Berkowitz, Amy Nabi, Sheila Kelley, Ivory Ocean, Benjamin Stein, Barry Kivel, David Byron, Willie Garson, Garry Marshall, Vince Melocchi, Brixton Karnes, Penny Gumeny, Wai Ching Ho, Mary Thompson Hunt, Phil Leeds, Herta Ware, Dorothy Patterson, Nico De Silva, Armando Molina, Gino Lucci, Clive Rosengren, Leeza Gibbons, John Tesh, Stephen Nichols, Scott Buzz (uncredited), Dave Droge (uncredited), Finola Hughes (uncredited), Keith E. Lane (uncredited), Michael Laurin (uncredited) and Jerry Slover (uncredited)
Director: Michael Hoffman
Producers: Alan Greisman, Aaron Spelling, Herbert Ross, Joel Freeman and Victoria White
Screenplay: Andrew Bergman (screenplay) and Robert Harling (story/screenplay)
Composer: Alan Silvestri
Costume Designs: Mark Zunino (uncredited) and Nolan Miller
Cinematography: Ueli Steiger (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
German: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
French: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, German and French
Running Time: 96 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘SOAPDISH’ [1991] is a off-screen craziness rivals in this on-screen drama in the side-splitting comedy, which is now celebrating its 32nd anniversary with this brand new Blu-ray release. Boasting an extraordinary cast of stars including Robert Downey Jr., Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Shue, Teri Hatcher, Garry Marshall, Cathy Moriarty and Kathy Najimy, the hilarious comedy follows the outrageous high jinks of the cast and crew of America’s hottest soap opera, “The Sun Also Sets.” When an ambitious actress connives with the soap’s producer to scuttle the career of the show’s beloved star, nothing works as they planned and there’s enough dirty laundry to keep everyone in hot water. This hilarious comedy gem continues to be a massive fan favourite, especially with me, ever since I first viewed it on our British television.
Things on the set of the popular soap opera “The Sun Also Sets” are starting to get out of hand with cast jealousies, diva-like tantrums, and underhanded tactics. Long-time star Celeste Talbert [Sally Field] is a generally unhappy actress whose personal life begins to spiral out of control when her boyfriend leaves her and her co-stars plot to remove her from the show. The main instigator against Celeste is Montana Moorehead [Cathy Moriarity] who has enlisted the show’s producer David Seton Barnes [Robert Downey, Jr.] to pursue her cause by promising him sexual favours if he gets rid of Celeste Talbert. The two of them conspire different ways to eliminate Celeste Talbert without hurting the show since the network honcho Edmund Edwards [Garry Marshall] is watching the ratings very carefully.
The only supporter that Celeste Talbert has on the show is the Head Writer Rose Schwartz [Whoopi Goldberg] who cares for her and even tries cheering her up by taking her to the mall and pretending to be a fan to garner attention from fans nearby. As a ploy to get the show’s audience to hate the character of Celeste Talbert, David Seton Barnes and Montana Moorehead create a new story-line where Celeste Talbert kills a deaf mute girl on the show. What they don’t realize is that the young girl that was cast in the role is Celeste Talbert’s real life niece Lori Craven [Elisabeth Shue]. Edmund Edwards likes what he sees and makes Lori Craven a full cast member of the show over Celeste Talbert’s objections since she doesn’t think acting is a suitable career for Lori.
Since their original plan didn’t work, David Seton Barnes and Montana Moorehead bring back an actor named Jeffrey Anderson [Kevin Kline] who had been fired from the show long ago at Celeste Talbert’s insistence. Jeffrey Anderson at this point is a bitter actor who performs for a disinterested group of senior citizens who can’t even hear the play. When he gets the chance to return to the show and abandon the dinner show theatre circuit, Jeffrey Anderson jumps at the chance and happily returns much to the chagrin of Celeste Talbert. By all appearances, Celeste Talbert seems to despise Jeffrey even though they once had a relationship before she kicked him off the show. Jeffrey Anderson becomes convinced that she still has feelings for him and constantly teases her about it. What makes it even harder on Celeste Talbert is seeing Lori Craven develop what she believes is a romantic relationship with Jeffrey which is more than she can take.
When the script from the show has Jeffrey Anderson’s character kiss Lori Craven’s, and Celeste Talbert interrupts the scene and confesses that not only is Lori her daughter not her niece, but that she’s also Jeffrey Anderson’s daughter. Both Jeffrey Anderson and Lori Craven are shocked and furious that they had never been told the truth while the rest of the cast gleefully watches the show implode, convinced that these events will bring about the end of Celeste Talbert’s reign on the show. The situation gets so bad that Celeste Talbert, Jeffrey Anderson, and Lori Craven all demand that the others be fired from the show or they would leave. Edmund Edwards decides that a live episode will decide the fate of all of the characters which will be revealed to everyone as they read their lines from a teleprompter. Being a live episode you can image how things will get crazy with so many different agendas that will be played out.
‘SOAPDISH’ is a fun film that plays like a farce and is filled with an extremely talented cast. Even relatively minor roles like the man-eating cast agent are played by the great Carrie Fisher. This cast is up to the task and I really enjoyed seeing Kevin Kline’s return to comedy after his absence from the scene after ‘A Fish Called Wanda.’ Kevin Kline is back full of manic energy and he’s absolutely great in this as is Sally Field as the somewhat sympathetic Celeste Talbert. It’s always fun to see Robert Downey Jr. and in this he looks impossibly young but he’s great as the weasel David Seton Barnes. The supporting roles are also done well with Whoopi Goldberg as the long suffering Rose, Elisabeth Shue as the wannabe actress, Teri Hatcher as a jealous co-star, and Cathy Moriarity as the evil mastermind who has her own secrets.
It really is a shame that films like ‘SOAPDISH’ never gets a Best Picture nominations, because this one is simply a winner. This is by far the most consistently hilarious comedy I have ever seen. Its screenplay and design are impeccable, not to mention the incredible cast. I can quote this for for hours on end. Watch it!
‘SOAPDISH’ is, for my money, one of the very best comedies Hollywood produced during the 1990's. It's excellent script and A-Class cast make it a must-see. It's hard not to love this film after it's kept you laughing for 96 minutes.
SOAPDISH MUSIC TRACK LIST
EL SOL TAMBIEN SE PONE (Written by Ludar Felsenstein) [Performed by LUDAR]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Paramount Pictures presents the film ‘SOAPDISH’ with an enhanced 1080p image and shown in the 1.85:1 anamorphic aspect ratio and it looks surprisingly good and a lot better than the previous inferior DVD release. I’ve never seen a decent home video release of this film, so I wasn’t too hopeful here, but Paramount Pictures has pulled out a real ace with this new transfer. The source print looks pristine at times and never dips below excellent, while colours are vivid and stream across the screen, very impressive work. No issues with the contrast either, as black levels seem quite refined and provide a good amount of detail. I didn’t expect much here, but this is a superb transfer release.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Paramount Pictures brings us the film ‘SOAPDISH’ with a standard 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience. This is a front heavy mix with not a lot of rear activity but it does the job. The sound effects are acceptable, while dialogue is clean and clear from start to finish. This is a good sound mix I’ve heard for a comedy of this calibre that is thirty two years old and has been given a new lease of life and deservedly so.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Behind-The-Scenes Featurette [1991] [1080p] [1.78:1] [4:30] The bulk of this “extra” is a look behind-the-scenes that’s better than nothing but I think there should have been a lot more, but it is still a very interesting insight into the film. We also get short clips of the cast talking about the film makes up this short extra. Contributors include: Sally Field, Cathy Moriarty, Robert Downey Jr., Teri Hatcher, Kevin Kline and Elisabeth Shue.
Theatrical Trailer [1991] [1080p] [1.37:1] [2:35] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘SOAPDISH.’
Finally, ‘SOAPDISH’ is a fun crazy film with a wonderful cast that really went all out to make this as outlandish as possible and one of the best and yet the least well remembered comedies of the 1990's. The film revolves around the various off-camera dramas’ that occur behind the scenes of a cheaply produced Daytime Soap Opera. The first of the film's various impressive strengths is it's fantastic A-List cast. , ‘SOAPDISH’ features some of the greatest actors and actresses of its era. It's funny. It's not Arthur Miller or T.S. Elliot, but man this is hilariously funny. Kevin Kline and Sally Fields are great and her toss-off line “God, you are so disgusting” as she tries to climb into his apartment window is totally brilliant. Then seeing Kevin Kline running into the door after leering at Teri Hatcher. Robert Downey Jr. and Kathy Moriarty work together flawlessly until he finds out who she really is! It’s a shame that they didn’t offer more extras but this is still a brilliant Blu-ray release. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
