film

HELLO AGAIN

Starring Shelly Long and Judith Ivey. Dir. Frank Perry.

Yet another Fairy Tale, or to be more precise another re-working of Sleeping Beauty. There is I regret to say a case of amnesia also involved in Hello Again. However don't let that put you off, it is once again a very enjoyable and funny film.

Lucy Chadman (Shelly Long) is a happily married upper middle class suburban lady. She has a grown up son, who wants to be a chef, works part time in a day care centre, has a beautiful home and a lovely life. She is also unbelievably clumsy and somewhat gauche. Her husband (Corbin Bersen) is beginning to attain dizzy heights, both socially and at work, and whilst she's the woman he fell in love with, she's obviously not the woman to help him scale the sophisticated heights of Manhattan. Neat solution number 203 is obviously called for.

Lucy dies, thus leaving the way clear for Jason to look for a new climbing partner. However -Zelda, Lucy's sister (Judith Ivey) is a white witch and brings her back to life again. The medical and media world are ecstatic, her plastic surgeon husband, less so, his second wife and her former best friend is most definitely not amused and she herself is somewhat bemused.

To say any more would totally spoil the plot, how she overcomes the obstacles put in the path of her new life with the help of a new doctor (Gabriel Byrne) and old friends is extremely entertaining. Her gaucheness will strike a cord in all of us who've ever spilt wine over the guest of honour and other horrors too dreadful to repeat. The script is witty and well paced, the acting from all concerned good, it's the type of film that enables one to leave the cinema smiling.

Anne Marie McCarthy