Nasty Habits (1977)

Nasty Habits is very much a product of its times -- the 1970s -- and as such is best appreciated by those with direct experience of the era. For example, the fact that the entire film is a parody of the Watergate scandal means that people who lived through that long "national nightmare" will get the references and satirical points much more quickly than younger audiences. Even the film's particular style of comedy -- a black humor with a particular degree of coarseness and harshness -- is somehow peculiar to the period. A viewer's feelings about the Watergate saga also will influence how much he or she enjoys the film. A bigger problem is the differences in tone in the piece -- Melina Mercouri and Sandy Dennis, giving performances which have their own internal logic and consistency, seem to be in two different films than the rest of the cast. Glenda Jackson heads that cast, and one couldn't ask for a better performance. Jackson is at her sneering, condescending best here, creating a character whose venality and repulsiveness are so forthright that the audience can't help rooting for her, even as it feels guilty about doing so. How can one resist a character that proclaims, "Unless I fulfill my destiny, my mother's labor pains were pointless?" Geraldine Page and Anne Jackson also turn in sterling performances as Sister Alexandra's chief cronies. This fine cast overcomes many of the lapses in the script and the uneven direction. Something of a cult film, Nasty Habits is enthusiastically embraced by some and generally dismissed by others. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide