She-Devil (1989)

Director Susan Seidelman specializes in creating comedies that are not especially comic. Sometimes, as in Desperately Seeking Susan, there are enough other virtues to compensate for this lack of humor, but She-Devil falls somewhat short of the mark. The basic revenge premise has potential; indeed, in one form or another it has been used in dozens of other successful movies. But Seidelman and screenwriters Mark R. Burns and Barry Strugatz have made the character of the wronged wife so unlikable that the audience doesn't enjoy her obsessive desire to destroy her husband. Roseanne Barr's chilly performance doesn't help matters, although to be fair, she seems to be creating the character exactly as Seidelman has envisioned her. Ed Begley, Jr. is also problematic. He's entirely believable (and enjoyable) as a loathsome rat, but his animal magnetism is practically nil; without that, it's hard to believe that Meryl Streep's character would become so utterly smitten with him. Streep, however, is a joy and the movie's highlight. Letting loose in her first all-out comic role, she has a delightful time, especially during her drug-induced writhing sequence on and around the bed. Even she has difficulty maneuvering past Seidelman's undermining of the mechanics of comedy (timing, build-ups, payoffs) in a search for more original ways of getting a laugh; but for the most part, Streep's broad, through-the-roof performance works. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide