I'll Take Manhattan (1987)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Sherman Yellen, based on the novel by Judith Krantz
Directed by Douglas Hickox and Richard Michaels
Starring Valerie Bertinelli, Barry Bostwick, Francesca Annis, Jane Kaczmarek, Jack Scalia, Paul Hecht, Timothy Daly, and Julianne Moore

Released by: Delta
Rating: NR
Region: 1
Anamorphic: N/A; it appears in its original 1.33:1 format

My Advice: Skip it

Maxi Amberville (Bertinelli) is forced to return home from overseas and the "high life" to save her family's magazine empire after her father's (Bostwick) unexpected and suspicious death. It seems that her recently widowed mother (Annis) has remarried with her uncle (Perry King), who just happens to be threatening to sell off the family's magazine empire and destroy everything that her father built up from nothing just after World War II. She bargains with her uncle to let her keep one little magazine...that she turns into the premiere women's magazine in the country. So, she goes from jet-setting deb to "working girl" and saves her father's legacy with the help of her closest friends and family members.

"Judith Krantz...for two hundred please, Alex."
"The answer is: 'This late 80s television miniseries starring Valerie Bertinelli borrowed heavily from Shakespeare's Hamlet to tell the story of the family of a rich magazine mogul and his family.'"
"That would be...the DVD I'm reviewing, Alex."
"That's excellent, HTQ4. You're right."

It's true, the first part of this story sounds a lot like Hamlet with Bertinelli playing the melancholy Dane, but that's where the similarities end. This is one of those miniseries that typifies what most people think of when they think of the 80s: big hair, lots of make-up, and some bad acting from some of television's finest. However, if you look closely enough at this little patch of television history, you'll find some real gems buried in it. For example, Julianne Moore is exquisite in this show. And, looking back, you can see that even then she was an actress who took her craft seriously and poured her heart and soul into every role that she was given. Also, Francesca Annis is wonderful as the widowed mother. Granted this is not her best work (see Macbeth and Lillie for examples of that), but at least the casting director and director had the foresight to hire some people who could pick up Bertinelli's slack.

Speaking of Bertinelli, it's not that she is a bad actress, it's just that she is way out of her depth in this role. She is not believable for one second as the "poor little rich girl" who has thrown away more husbands than handbags. I just think she had been hanging around with her husband a little too much to really throw off that blue collar image that she has thanks to One Day at a Time.

Not only that, but the writing is horrible. The dialogue is trite and feels like it's wearing pants that are about three sizes too small. The situations are believable enough and apart from the two actors that I mentioned above, the only other actors that come out of this looking good are Bostwick and Kascmarek. They really work well together as the younger versions of the magazine mogul and his girlfriend/fiance/wife in a series of flashbacks to their beginnings. By the way, from this respect, the writing is solid. The story weaves in and out of flashbacks, but it does so with purpose and ease. I think this is more of Krantz' doings than that of Yellen.

The DVD does not add anything to the mix to make me feel better. There is not one scrap of bonus material here whatsoever. The simple stuff would have been cast profiles and bios. Or even a list of Krantz' books. Then the more obvious nice bits could have been interviews with Krantz and some of the actors involved. Even five minutes with Krantz and some others would have made for a nice retrospective--let's face it, the 80s miniseries is an interesting beast. A little scholarship about it would have made for some interesting bonus stuff.

So, just let this one pass. It's really not worth renting, unless you want to seek out the early work of Julianne Moore or Francesca Annis.