Postcards From the Edge (1990) - "Living For the Streep" Series

“Living for the STREEP” Series: We are here to celebrate the career of Mary Louise Streep….now known to most as Meryl Streep who has become widely known by critics, film-lovers, and audiences as likely our GREATEST LIVING ACTRESS.  Ever since her earlier breakout roles in the late 1970’s in films such as The Deer Hunter, and Kramer Vs. Kramer, she has carved out a filmography filled with brilliant performances in memorable films spanning a variety of genres including biopics, thrillers, family dramas, AND comedies.  During this time, she has also earned a STAGGERING TWENTY-ONE Oscar nominations including THREE wins.  Over the next several months, I will be revisiting one notable Streep film each month – each highlighting a different type of performance – culminating with the May 1 release of the long-awaited sequel featuring one of her more ICONIC roles as Miranda Priestly, The Devil Wears Prada 2.

The late, great Oscar-winning filmmaker Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Silkwood, Working Girl) directed this biting comedic drama about Diane, an actress Diane (Meryl Streep) struggling with drug addication and her complicated relationship with her mother (Shirley MacClaine) who was also a famous performer.  Also written by the late, great Carrie Fisher (Star Wars, When Harry Met Sally) who was adapting her own semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, this story delves mostly into Diane's frought (and often comedic) misadventures following her recent treatment at a drug clinic including her on-set struggles, her romantic life, and her attempts to carve out a new career for herself.  This quotable gem featured a stacked supporting cast including Dennis Quaid, Annette Bening, Oliver Platt, Richard Dreyfuss, and the late, great Gene Hackman. 

Host: Geoff Gershon
Edited By Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon  

Transcript

“Living for the STREEP” Series: We are here to celebrate the career of Mary Louise Streep originally from Summit, New Jersey….now known to most as Meryl Streep who has become widely known by critics, film-lovers, and audiences as likely our GREATEST LIVING ACTRESS.  Ever since her earlier breakout roles in the late 1970’s in films such as Julia, The Deer Hunter, and Kramer Vs. Kramer, she has carved out a filmography filled with brilliant performances in memorable films spanning a variety of genres including biopics, thrillers, family dramas, AND comedies.  During this time, she has also earned a STAGGERING TWENTY-ONE Oscar nominations including THREE wins.  Over the next several months, I will be revisiting one notable Streep film each month – each highlighting a different type of performance – culminating with the May 1 release of the long-awaited sequel featuring one of her more ICONIC roles as Miranda Priestly, The Devil Wears Prada 2. (Music playing over)

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE - 1990

Directed by Mike Nichols

Starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Quaid, Mary Wickes, Conrad Bain, CCH Pounder, Robin Bartlett, Richard Dreyfuss, Rob Reiner, Anthony Heald, Oliver Platt, Michael Ontkean, Annette Bening, Simon Callow, Dana Ivey, and Gene Hackman

Genre: Comedy/Drama (Audio clip)

I really enjoy this early '90's period of Meryl Streep movies when she was taking on lighter, more comedic roles and genuinely nailing them. 🙂 She proved that she could really do anything as actress....and here, she's playing Suzanne Vale, an actress who is struggling with addiction who is pretty much stand-in for the late, great Carrie Fisher in this movie which was also Fisher's screenplay adapting her own semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. 

What it also happens to be a highly entertaining comedy/drama about a mother and daughter fighting addiction and each other at the same time....often not realizing how intertwined those two fights are while they're exchanging pithy dialogue. You could easily accuse the film of oversimplification with this kind of subject matter but Streep and MacClaine who plays her mother Doris…..they BOTH play these woman as fully realized characters who are both very funny yet clearly fragile.

It also helps to put them alongside a stacked cast where every other actor is a valuable role player doing EXACTLY what they're needed to do with limited screentime....Richard Dreyfess, Oliver Platt, Anthony Heald, and the late great Rob Reiner with one funny cameo...though ONE particular standout with a performance VERY much playing against his leading image at the time was Dennis Quaid who is basically playing the "love interest" but with a much nastier bite and payoff for this character. (Audio clip) 

Meryl Oscar Clip (Meryl Streep has become such a consummate actress on-screen that many just ASSUME – fair or not – that she will delivering scenes designed to highlight her “acting” ability.  This would be the moment of her performance in this film which seems the most IDEAL to play as a clip on the Oscar’s): 

Now this sequence actually kicks off a series of scenes over the last 25 minutes which will pretty much dominate the categories to come – this is the probably the one REAL dramatic sequence in the film even though there is one prominent comedic beat which was featured in the trailers.  (Audio clip) 

Diane and her mother Doris are finally having it out about their respective addictions – including who MIGHT be the blame…if it were really that simple – and wouldn’t you know it…..Diane is about to fall off the wagon with some pills she just slipped in her pocket AND Doris is kicking back with a glass of scotch.  AND…..it’s lit dramatically as they’re on opposite ends of a stairwell in the house.  Yup it’s pretty much out of a Tennessee Williams play.  BUT it’s not written nor performed that way – it’s a strong interaction and I include it in this category because Streep is given her ONE major histrionic reveal moment.  She sells it too….but for the most part, she’s playing this whole scene quietly and that works all the better.  (Audio clip) 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

Finally there's that country music number at the end....I can see how for a lot of folks, that scene kinda sinks the movie for them: Streep's vocal talent is questionable and it kinda wraps up the film maybe a bit too tidily.  This is Diane performing an original  song to be filmed for what I would assume is her first music video, in a stage set which I’m guessing is meant to be presented as a country and western bar.  Now watching this as a teenager, I had always thought it was meant to be this super-triumphant “A Star Is Born” moment for her character to close out the movie – rewatching it again recently, it’s clearly not.  Even the on-site audience is clearly not INTO this song as Nichols does the clever move of panning the camera through all of the extras and stagehands watching it…..and most of them are pretty stone-faced. (Audio clip) 

But damn if it still just hasn’t always worked for me - Streep is just having a blast on the stage, twanging it up and it's infectious to watch...it helps you buy her as a poor woman's Bonnie Raitt just based on sheer will! The song itself was written by the late great Shel Silverstein….yes THAT same Shel Silverstein who wrote the famous children’s books The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk ends.  Well did you know that he was ALSO a songwriter?  I didn’t until just recently looking this up – yep Silverstein wrote many pop songs before he became an acclaimed author INCLUDING “A Boy Named Sue” from the late, great Johnny Cash.  Not to criticize a true literary giant but the lyrics are KIND of clunky and Streeps voice (according to a vocal expert…my wife) is merely competent but that’s kind of the point.  As an audience, it feels doubtful that she’s actually going to be a music star even as her mother looks on proudly….but the scene is still somewhat triumphant because she’s sober, surviving, and possibly doing something she really loves finally.  This Oscar-nominated number is called, “I’m Checking Out.” (Audio clip)  

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Amidst the previously mentioned STACKED cast of supporting players in this movie – most of whom just have one scene – there is ONE scene-stealing performance which not only stands out for just how funny it is but it’s also one of our most consistently strong living actresses LITERALLY about to break out, she would be nominated this same year for her supporting turn in The Grifters which would be the first of FIVE Oscar nominations for the actress – she has yet to win disappointingly. I’m referring to Annette Bening who plays another actress on a nearby set Evelyn Ames whom Suzanne is soliciting information for about her new potential boyfriend Jack played by Dennis Quaid. (Audio clip) 

Bening just KILLS it here - playful, sexy, goofy, and yeah possibly not too bright – and in retrospect, it actually feels like a BIGGER moment watching these two top-flight acting talents go toe-to-toe with what is on paper pretty much a throwaway scene.  Bening does EXACTLY what she’s supposed to with this one exchange but after this and The Grifters….she pretty much joined The A-List over the next several years with a series of prominent leading or co-lead roles in Bugsy (with future husband Warren Beatty), The American President, and the unintentionally HILARIOUS Regarding Henry alongside Harison Ford….at least within SCENE, she’s going for laughs and it works. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Just a couple of scenes before the needle-drop sequence, we have a quieter but even MORE effect scene KIND OF setting it up as we return to Lowell, the director of the film which Diane was doing when she had her drug overdose.  And Lowell is played by the late, great Gene Hackman – he’s in a recording studio waiting for her so that she can re-loop dialogue for this troubled production they were on earlier. (Audio clip) 

You see the footage of her barely conscious mangling dialogue several months prior, you see her working to correct it now much more coherently, and then you see her break down a bit which then results in Hackman's director taking her aside to both set her straight and comfort her. It's truly a masterclass scene between two masterclass actors which is both funny and sad, also featuring some of the best dialogue in the film.  And of course wouldn’t you know, two scenes later we see Lowell DIRECTING that music video which Diane is performing in at the very end….so we come full circle. (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film): 

Have I said enough about the DIALOGUE?? And as you would expect coming from the late great Fisher judging by even her later stage shows or interviews, this film generally has a biting tone and is often very flippant taking on the subject matter of drug abuse....and UNDERSTANDING that makes it just a highly different animal from any number of real-life rise-and-fall stories about famous artists who fell victim to drug addiction. The Doors this is not. 😉It never delves too much into drug addiction just the eventually messy aftermath which results….and that’s ok because this was clearly a VERY personal endeavor for Fisher who herself grew up the daughter of a famous Hollywood actress, Debbe Reynolds.  And a lot of folks seem to forget that besides playing Princess Leia and having a pretty strong actor career in gems like When Harry Met Sally or Shampoo, Fisher ALSO became one of Hollywood’s most reliable script doctors – she worked on a LOT of films with uncredited rewrites along with occasionally writing for TV shows like Roseanne and the The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.  However this remains the ONLY theatrical film which she has received writing credit for….and it still holds up.  For delivering a truly entertaining and magnus opus reflecting on her own personal struggles, the LEGENDARY Carrie Fisher is the MVP. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5

I just ADORE this movie and I’m fairly confident that it was after seeing THIS, She-Devil, and Defending Your Life ALL within a year of each other….it was from that point on, I became a Meryl Streep fan.  As you would expect, she WAS deservedly nominated for an Oscar this year though if I’m being honest, I think Carrie Fisher was even more deserving for the screenplay.  Regardless with the two of them and a directing powerhouse like Mike Nichols, it was a great collaboration.

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And that ends another DETOXING review!