WOMEN WITHOUT IMPLANTS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Anne De Salvo is a talented actress who usually plays supporting roles. If you see her, you will probably recognize her. She has been in about two dozen films from STARDUST MEMORIES to UNSTRUNG HEROES. She was at San Jose's Cinequest Film Festival to present the first (short) film she had created. She wrote, directed, starred in it, and talked a gifted group of her friends into acting in it gratis. The cast includes Beth Broderick (THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES), Cathy Moriarty (CASPER and RAGING BULL), Julie Hagerty (AIRPLANE!), and Lee Garlington (THE BABYSITTER).
WOMEN WITHOUT IMPLANTS is an extremely funny comedy about women's breasts. The film is much less risque than you might guess, and De Salvo just signed a deal to get it shown on the Lifetime cable network on March 9th. I suspect she will be able to show it without editing since, as funny as it is, it is never very explicit. As always, I will keep my reviews even less explicit and G rated.
The short story starts with a group of women discussing bra types. Each has a theory as to which is the best brand and why. As in all of the show, every line is precious. De Salvo's script has humor that hits the mark with enough truth in every line to make the laughs bite.
This is no ugly film with a handheld camera and a low budget look. De Salvo was able to get Ralf Bode, who is an Academy Award nominated cinematographer (THE COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER), to film it. The print looks great with a hazy warmth. Even the editing (Adam Bernardi) is crisp and dramatic.
In the story Linda (Anne De Salvo) has had it with bras. She tells her Hollywood friends she is going to get plastic surgery because she wants "a bodacious pair." Her friends think she is nuts.
Although it is a short film, there are several great scenes. The best has modestly chested Linda trying everything to lure the attention of a moderately attractive man at a party. She tries to talk to him about football, but when a women with large breasts enters the room, he starts ignoring Linda. I will not reveal her actions then nor what she does at the trip to the plastic surgeon, but rest assured that you are in for many laughs and several surprises.
After the film was over, I got to ask the director some questions. I was surprised to find out that the script was not ad libbed at all. She wrote every word of the script before the project started. It has the naturalness of some actresses sitting down together and starting to cut up to see what material they could improvise.
She said that the film is based on what happened to two of her friends. One of them, having been dumped by a big rock star, and had a disastrous time trying three different implant sizes in a failed attempt to get her life back together.
De Salvo said the message she is trying to give in the film is, "what's right for you is right for you, and it's nobody else's business." The film does exactly what she set out to do and delights and charms its audience in the process.
WOMEN WITHOUT IMPLANTS runs just 20 minutes, but there is so much in it, I thought it was twice that long. It is not rated, but would probably be PG-13 for the frank conversations. The film would be fine for kids 10 and up. I enjoyed this funny, short film so I recommend it and give it ** 1/2.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: January 30, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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