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"&lt;p&gt;Daytime TV dramas can be a fertile field for satire. Though falling far short of the peerless &lt;em&gt;Tootsie, Soapdish&lt;/em&gt; has moments of inspired lunacy. Directed by Michael Hoffman (&lt;em&gt;Promised Land&lt;/em&gt;) from a script by Robert Harling (&lt;a href=\"../../../movies/reviews/steel-magnolias-19891115\"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Steel Magnolias&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;) and Andrew Bergman (&lt;a href=\"../../../movies/reviews/the-freshman-19900720\"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Freshman&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;), this unbridled farce boasts a spirited cast of crazies, led by Sally Field as Celeste Talbert, the aging star of &lt;em&gt;The Sun Also Sets.&lt;/em&gt; Accepting her umpteenth award, Talbert thanks her co-workers, who mutter beneath their fixed smiles. &amp;quot;Bitch,&amp;quot; says Ariel Maloney (sexy Teri Hatcher), who plays Dr. Monica DeMonaco on the show. &amp;quot;Hag,&amp;quot; says the show&amp;apos;s producer, David Barnes (Robert Downey Jr.). &amp;quot;I hate her soooo much,&amp;quot; says bombshell Montana Moorehead (Cathy Moriarty), who plays Nurse Nan. Only the show&amp;apos;s head writer, Rose Schwartz (Whoopi Goldberg on wry), is a true friend.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;wm:embed type=\"related\"&gt;&lt;/wm:embed&gt;&lt;p&gt;The backstage back stabbing has an irresistible fizz. Moriarty is wickedly funny, as Montana plots against Celeste by seducing Barnes (&amp;quot;Get rid of her and Mr. Fuzzy is yours&amp;quot;). And Downey gives Barnes a wonderfully sleazy avidity. He brings back Celeste&amp;apos;s former lover, Jeffrey Anderson (Kevin Kline in richly comic form), a ham actor reduced to &amp;quot;playing Willy Loman to old farts eating meatloaf&amp;quot; in dinner theaters since Celeste axed him from the show twenty years ago. Barnes even devises a plot in which Celeste murders a mute homeless girl. But the plan backfires when the viewers learn that the actress cast in the role is Celeste&amp;apos;s niece, Lori Craven (Elisabeth Shue), and Celeste becomes more popular.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;p&gt;It&amp;apos;s a kick to see Field sending up her sweetheart image. When a costumer puts her in an unflattering turban, she shrieks, &amp;quot;I&amp;apos;m not Gloria fucking Swanson.&amp;quot; But her performance, along with the film, descends into silliness. The satire loses its edge as the filmmakers wrongheadedly try to humanize this nest of vipers. &lt;em&gt;Soapdish&lt;/em&gt; is more fun when it&amp;apos;s spitting venom than when it&amp;apos;s licking wounds.&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/soapdish-19910531>