A WOMAN SCORNED: THE BETTY BRODERICK STORY

Meredith Baxter

A WOMAN SCORNED: THE BETTY BRODERICK STORY (1992 telefilm). Director: Dick Lowry. 

Betty Broderick (Meredith Baxter of The Cat Creature) has been nagging her successful husband, Dan (Stephen Collins) about a divorce for years, but when he finally gives up, moves out, and files papers, she is absolutely livid. Betty mounts a campaign of terror against the man that spares no one, including her own children. She goes so far as to call her little boy a "little traitor" because he wants her to stop carrying on the way she does, which includes driving her car into her now ex-husband's house when her children are inside! Later claiming that she was "driven to it," Betty goes to his home (supposedly wanting to "talk" late in the evening), climbs the stairs to the bedroom, and shoots both him and his new wife (Michelle Johnson) dead.

Kelli Williams and Stephen Collins

A Woman Scorned makes very clear that -- although some stupid people made Broderick a cause celdebre, seeing her as a symbol of middle-aged women dumped by husbands for younger models, an over-simplification to say the least -- Broderick was, as one psychologist calls her, an extreme "narcissist" who had no problem using her own children as pawns in a war with her ex. Ignoring restraining orders, acting like a loon, alienating friends and family -- even though she could have started over again with her new boyfriend -- she was her own worst enemy. In an Emmy-nominated performance, Meredith Baxter brings the woman vividly to life, never chewing the scenery, always making it clear what makes this woman tick. Baxter is excellent casting, showing the dark side of the sitcom mom she had previously played. Stephen Collins and Kelli Williams are also perfection as Dan Broderick and his oldest daughter, one of four children caught in the middle of this mess, and there are a host of solid supporting performances as well. Followed by Her Final Fury. Dick Lowry also directed The Jayne Mansfield Story and many others. 

NOTE: In 2014 Stephen Collins admitted to People magazine that he had "inappropriate sexual contact with three female minors." The statute of limitations prevented him from being arrested. 

Verdict: Well played and suspenseful, this is one high-class telefilm. ***. 

THE THREE STOOGES (2012)

Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos, Will Sasso

THE THREE STOOGES (2012). Directors: Bobby and Peter Farrelly.

"You must be French -- that's a lot of oui oui." One of the Stooges referring to a baby.

If you're expecting a biopic that looks into the lives of the Three Stooges, look elsewhere. This purports to tell the life story of the Stooges, who are left on the doorstep of an orphanage run by nuns, and cause such damage over the years that the place has to close unless they can come up with $800,000. Fat chance! In sub-plots, an avaricious lady (Sofia Verara) hires the Stooges to allegedly murder her "dying" husband (Craig Bierko/Kirby Heyborne) and Moe winds up the star of a reality series set in Jersey! The Stooges are recreated by Sean Hayes (Larry), Will Sasso (Curly), and Chris Diamantopoulos (Moe), and they all do a nearly flawless job. Diamantopoulos really has Moe's voice down pat; Sasso does Curly's shtick to perfection, but Hayes isn't quite there as Larry. As to be expected in a modern movie, there's a gross 21st century sensibility in some sequences -- the boys uses babies to literally piss on each other in a hospital nursery -- and the humor is perhaps more black than it was in the Stooges' day. On the other hand, much of this is laugh-out-loud funny, and it's basically good-natured if at times in questionable taste. The child actors are all excellent, and Stephen Collins [The First Wives Club] scores as the duplicitous Mr. Harter. Other cast stand-outs include Jane Lynch as the Mother Superior and especially the wonderful Larry David as the delightfully dyspeptic Sister Mary-Mengele! A sequel to this film has been announced.

Verdict: Some very funny moments. ***.

THE FIRST WIVES CLUB

THE FIRST WIVES CLUB (1995). Director: Hugh Wilson.

"Don't get mad -- get everything!" -- Ivana Trump.

Cynthia (Stockard Channing), who was dumped by her husband for a young bimbo, throws herself off of a roof. At her funeral, three old college friends reunite: housewife Brenda (Bette Midler); another housewife, Annie (Diane Keaton of Annie Hall); and actress Elise (Goldie Hawn, outfitted with huge fake collagen lips). The three women each discover that they have been left by their husbands for other women, and are in much worse circumstances than they were before. They decide to team up to get justice and essentially blackmail their ex-spouses, whose activities have not exactly been on the up and up, into giving them more money and so on. But they also have a broader, more feminist goal in mind. You can certainly find dozens of things to quibble about when it comes to First Wives Club so it's best to just take it as an amusing and farcical look at the ugliness of divorce. It's pointless to accuse the film of being one-sided, as its premise looks at wives who have been discarded for younger replacements after many years of marriage and find themselves all at sea -- it is not the husbands' story. However, the soundtrack may have ladies warbling "sistahs are doin' it for thermselves" but in this picture Brenda and her pals get help from her Uncle and his mafia cronies! I question the wisdom of any of these three gals wanting to get back with their errant ex-spouses, and while a big bitch-fight sequence when the three friends go off on each other has funny dialogue, it comes off as contrived and silly. However, the main point of the film is its three sharp and funny lead performances. The spouses are played by Victor Garber [Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows], Stephen Collins, and Dan Hedaya, who seems capable of playing one and only one characterization no matter what movie he's in. Eileen Heckart as Annie's mother offers one of her rare mediocre performances. There's an interesting, if awkward, sequence in a lesbian bar -- Annie's daughter (Jennifer Dundas) is openly gay -- and Ivana Trump has an amusing cameo.

Verdict: Fun, essentially amiable movie despite some really stupid aspects. ***.