Review of She-Devil (1989) by Orlando D — 23 Feb 2013

Roseanne is out for revenge in Susan Seidelman's She Devil, based on the novel by Fay Weldon. Meryl Streep looks like she is having a blast here as a younger Barbara Cartland-like romance novelist but with a higher sex drive, who steals the soocial climbing husband(Ed Begley, Jr.

) from Roseanne, who is also good as the frumpy housewive with a scary looking mole and doormat attitude. Ruth(Roseanne) sets her plan in motion to destroy her husband's career and his life. Oscar winner Linda Hunt(The Year of Living Dangerously) is a lowly nurse who befriends Ruth and begin their employment agency for women, and midway through the picture-and then she's gone! Sylvia Miles provides wonderful comic relief as Streep's mother, whom Streep is embarassed by her and stores her away to a nursing home.

This movie has good dark comic undertones and then switches gears by aiming for more slapstick and the results are varied. Felt the movie could have been a lot better.