Updated: 22 June 1997

THE ASSOCIATE

I really like Whoopi Goldberg. She is one of the more natural performers on the screen, nowadays. Recently, a lot has been said about her poor choices in movies, most notably that dino-cop whatever-it-was. And this isn't innacurate. Yet maybe it isn't completely fair, either. What sort of material is she being offered? I can't imagine that she would pick the films she has been picking if she had better scripts to choose from. She is one of the sharper people out there in the Hollywood jungle, and certainly one of the most capable actresses (I still get really irate when I think of the huge, politically-motivated bungle the Academy made with THE COLOR PURPLE, one of my all-time favorite films). What's left is the sad thought that you have a successful actress that wants to stay busy, rather than rest on her laurels, and is taking whatever comes her way.

This gives me an idea. I think I'm going to write a quality script for her. Or get one of my friends to do it. Not a bad idea, eh?

All that said, this is not the worst of the recent films she's made. Far from it. For nearly the entire first half of the film, it stands out as one of the better films in her not-exactly-full-of- smash-hits career. The problem is that somewhere in the third quarter of the film, it goes from a perceptive--if admittedly light--and "cute" show to just kind of cute and stupid. This is just before the moment she loses her license along with her alter-ego, and lasts nearly until the last few seconds of the film.

Though you see the ending coming from a mile away, the "revealing" line is clever enough to warrant some merit.

Also, you have Diane Weist, who is at the very least always likable. And usually pretty darn good besides. Though nowhere near the arch perfection of her role in BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, she still musters a determined/unexpectedly spunky performance out of a role that could have been otherwise neglected.

Maybe because the leads are so skilled, your head doesn't hurt from the politically-correct pounding it takes in this film. Like so many movies today, the script tries to get by on the lone merit of having a social conscience. It rises above this laziness occasionally on the shoulders of its performers. Perhaps that can be tolerated in an after-school special. But not in a big-screen flick.