This is another 80s movie I read about in Roger Ebert’s reviews but never got around to watching. The day I got back from Scotland, I was recovering from jet lag and just wanted to watch trash TV. But, thanks to my singlehood brand, I can’t watch it without something not coming to mind.
I read the plot summary for Outrageous Fortune and saw that while there’s a love affair (two, actually), neither protagonist couples at the end. It’s about their friendship.
Shelley Long plays Lauren, a struggling actress who’s ecstatic to be admitted into the class of Stanislav Korzenowski, a legendary acting coach. She meets Sandy Brozinsky, a stereotypically crass New Yorker played by Bette Midler. They grate on each other’s nerves, and Sandy enrolls in the course just to piss off Lauren.
Midler’s lowbrow New York accent and cadence is my second favorite thing about the movie. When Sandy tells her to perform a monologue from Hamlet (the origin of the movie’s title), her response: “Who’s that?”
At one point, both Sandy and Lauren are carrying on an affair with a man played by Peter Coyote. Later on, we find out he’s a spy for the Russians who’s carrying a device that could destroy the world. Both women end up with this device when he’s “killed.” They recognize he’s faked his own death, so they set out on a mission to find him so they can bet on who he’ll say he loves more.
Neither, as it turns out. I got bored during the action part of the plot, but loved the two of them together. There are men in the movie, and there’s an intimation Lauren will get involved with one of the CIA agents chasing Coyote. But, at the end, Lauren and Sandy take their bows after Hamlet, and he’s with a group of CIA agents cheering for them. It’s a bit cloudy, but I would think if they’re going to be romantically involved, the filmmakers would have planted this throughout, and they’d kiss at the end.
It’s a fun film overall, and a pro-single message is always welcome.