Postcards From The Edge – DVD

A film by Mike Nichols of Carrie Fisher's semi-autobiographical novel, Postcards from the Edge is an intermittently hilarious, occasionally tear-stained account of an actress' struggle with addiction and with her competitive star mother. Meryl Streep turns in yet another flawlessly perfect performance as Suzanne, who is coping with cleaning up while making yet another idiot cop film. Shirley Maclaine is effective and overpowering as her hard-drinking Old Hollywood star mother perpetually trying to remould her daughter, singing Sondheim songs at parties, showing off her still-perfect legs and occasionally driving into trees. Among the many guest stars, Dennis Quaid is self-effacingly unpleasant as an unreliable boyfriend, Gene Hackman charismatic as a fatherly director and Annette Benning impressive in a cameo as a starlet rival. Nichols' standard slickness is very much on display here; this is perhaps too obviously manipulative a film in which the emotional detail is never quite as impressive as the central performances and script deserve.