O Death

Death Becomes Her (1992), directed by Robert Zemekis, is an odd movie. You can see Bruce Willis playing against type as a wimpy plastic surgeon, and Goldie Hawn playing frumpy. Also Meryl Streep,  but she doesn’t seem to be playing against type.

It starts with Streep as an almost washed-up star doing a musical version of Sweet Bird of Youth on Broadway. We get to see one number, and by the audience reaction, it’s supposed to be a flop. But I’ve got to say, I’d watch it over Greatest Showman. But one viewer seems to love it - Bruce Willis, looking weedy in a mustache and glasses. He is with his fiancée Goldie Hawn. It turns out that Hawn and Streep are old “friends” - and Streep has stolen everyone of Hawn’s boyfriends. In short order, Streep has married Willis.

Seven years later, Hawn is a fat frump in a mental institution for making threats against Streep. She finally snaps out of it when she decides to get revenge.

Another seven years later, Streep and Willis are at a book publishing party. The author is Hawn, now beautiful and thin. Streep, however, is losing her looks, and Willis has started drinking, and can only work on corpses - he has become a cosmetician for a high-end mortician.

Desperate to regain her youth, Streep goes to a mysterious mansion, where Isabella Rosselini, claiming to be 70 years old, promises her a potion of eternal youth. And Streep succumbs.

Now we get to the meat of the movie. Hawn is seducing Willis, trying to get him to kill Streep. He doesn’t have the guts, but he doesn’t try to save her when she falls down the stairs. But while he’s on the phone to Goldie, Streep’s corpse assembles itself (with it’s head on backwards) and comes over to see what’s going on. You see, she’s immortal, because of the potion.

When Hawn shows up, there’s a big fight, which leads to Streep blowing a big hole in Hawn’s torso - which doesn’t kill her because guess what? She took the potion too. So now you’ve got the poster - Willis between Streep with a backwards head and Hawn with a huge hole in her torso. Fortunately, Willis is familiar with cosmetic cleanup for the deceased (in this case, should-be deceased).

The script for this movie is pretty funny and fairly dark. The acting is great, although Willis doesn’t seem to happy as a schlub. I would have cast Martin Mull - maybe just because of the mustache. The special effects were a big draw at the time, but they are kind of inconsequential now. I guess Zemeckis has always been a sucker for that kind of thing.