Review of Straight Talk (1992) by Cinamon C — 08 Jun 2008

Though certainly lightweight and silly, this movie is a more or less entertaining way to kill an hour and a half. Perhaps its due to the relief of seeing Dolly in something that's actually watchable, after the fratboy hijinks of 'Rhinestone' and the icky-sweet sentimentality of 'Steel Magnolias'.

Though it sounds absurd on paper, Dolly and James Woods actually play well off of one another (she's sunny and lighthearted, and he's cynical and urban -- it's an 'opposites attract' story, that actually put me in mind of Streisand and Redford in 'The Way We Were').

Completely farfetched, of course, is is usually the case with romantic comedies (Dolly and the radio station scams her listeners for months, presenting her as a PhD, and when it all comes out in the wash, no one sues or presses charges ???) but in a post-911 world of climate change and infliation and rising gas prices and being terrified to get on an airplane, perhaps realism is slightly over-rated.