WHO'S THAT GIRL?
A film review by Dan Frank
Copyright 1987 Dan Frank
Imagine this premise: a vaguely owlish junior member of New York society is due to be married to a spoiled, stupid socialite. By accident, he is saddled with a strange and impulsive woman, who gets him in a lot of trouble with his stuffy associates. There is a large member of the leopard family involved, over whom the strange woman has a certain measure of authority. The story ends as we would expect, with the triumph of true love.
What, you say, it's been done? How about this one: a New York yuppie is virtually kidnapped by an oddly dressed and sexy female petty criminal and taken, not entirely against his will, on a set of adventures in a strange and violent world.
Shucks, are you kidding? Ok--this one's got to be original. This real white-collar type guy gets involved for an evening with a ditzy female who gets him in a lot of trouble with his boss, takes him into a neighborhood where his car gets trashed, and generally lands him in a real mess. In spite of his anger at her, they really love each other, and love triumphs at a comic society wedding held out on a lawn behind a big house.
What? I'm sorry, I can't think of any more, and neither could the the writers of WHO'S THAT GIRL?, the new comedy starring Madonna and Griffin Dunne (reprising his "I Hate NY" experiences from AFTER HOURS).
Dunne turns in a somewhat inconsistent performance, although that may be more the script's fault than his own. He can't figure out if he likes the woman ("Nicky Finn") or hates her, and if he's scared or having a good time. This is, of course, what he is supposed to be feeling, but the changes in character are so radical, and so telegraphed, as to be unbelievable.
George Will once wrote about John Wayne that Wayne didn't act, he simply played Wayne. Similarly, Madonna has a perfectly serviceable screen persona that is based on "playing Madonna." This is not the same as acting, but that never hurt John Wayne, either. The danger is that Hollywood will be tempted to build empty movies around her persona. WHO'S THAT GIRL? treads dangerously close, as the lack of care taken with Dunne's character suggests. The filmmakers rely on Madonna to anchor a cast of empty and stereotyped supporting characters worlds away from the gritty and convincing misfits inhabiting a film like SOMETHING WILD, or even better, DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN.
That said, WHO'S THAT GIRL? offers some good laughs. What the writers lack in originality and consistency they make up in cleverness. There are some great gags in this film, and some lines that with any luck will be remembered longer than the movie itself. The jokes are good enough to almost make you forget how bad the script really is. Almost.
WHO'S THAT GIRL? gets the Dan Frank "Matinee" rating, which means, see it on the cheap if you have some time to kill, it's hot, and the theatre has air conditioning.
[By the way, there appears to be a cameo appearance by Spike Lee as a bicycle messenger who comes to pick up the cat. I forgot and didn't look in the credits. Can someone confirm this? Lee is, of course, the very talented actor and director of SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT. Too bad they didn't let him make this one.]
-- Dan Frank
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