It took four years for Bette Midler's return to film stardom and a better script that boosted her box office, and fortunately by that time, this messy black comedy was long forgotten. Pretty much every diva of the modern day film has had a disaster, and in this case "Jinxed" is Bette's. Combining incredibly unlikable tacky characters and a rip-off of the classic film noir classics, "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (just re-made the previous year), this is often painful, especially for Bette fans. Bette, unhappily involved with low-life gambler Rip Torn, has had an inclandestin affair with sexy Ken and Wahl, an equally down on his luck casino table operator whom she talks onto helping her off Torn. But a strange twist of fate puts a change in their plans, leading to further complications.
Sexy Wahl is easy on the eye, but Midler's poodle like wig is laughable. Midler does get to sing a bit, but the comedy is forced and obnoxious, not funny. I felt sorry for Bette when she was forced to dress a dead, naked Rip who literally does rip one while she's purposely dresses him up in clothes that he "wouldn't be caught dead in". A wild goose chase set up by Torn dominates the second half and gets the film even further off track.
The genuinely wretched script is made even worse by the fact that Bette and Ken have absolutely no chemistry and that she is a shell of what she did in "The Rose" and her live performances. As a huge Bette fan, I wouldn't watch this ever again, and that her charisma was done definitely waning here. Fortunately, she wouldn't be "Down and Out" for long, and other than a handful of real stinkers ("Drowning Mona", anyone?), she remains at the too of my list of musical divas who can do it all.
Sexy Wahl is easy on the eye, but Midler's poodle like wig is laughable. Midler does get to sing a bit, but the comedy is forced and obnoxious, not funny. I felt sorry for Bette when she was forced to dress a dead, naked Rip who literally does rip one while she's purposely dresses him up in clothes that he "wouldn't be caught dead in". A wild goose chase set up by Torn dominates the second half and gets the film even further off track.
The genuinely wretched script is made even worse by the fact that Bette and Ken have absolutely no chemistry and that she is a shell of what she did in "The Rose" and her live performances. As a huge Bette fan, I wouldn't watch this ever again, and that her charisma was done definitely waning here. Fortunately, she wouldn't be "Down and Out" for long, and other than a handful of real stinkers ("Drowning Mona", anyone?), she remains at the too of my list of musical divas who can do it all.