Certainly the most appealing aspect of the film is the cast. It boasts the presence of three actresses who had won the Best Actress Academy Award within the past 10 years. (Shirley MacLaine for "Terms of Endearment," Jessica Tandy for "Driving Miss Daisy," and Kathy Bates for "Misery.") So, it comes to no surprise for "Used People" to be a remarkably well-acted character study.
This film should very much be considered a comedy. While it's general purpose is to show the audience personal crisises the main characters face, it tells it in a comedic fashion.
The main gist of the film is about a widowed woman (Shirley MacLaine) of 37 years of marriage finding love at her husband's funeral. What's even more strange about the situation is that he had been in love with her for quite some time -- he became acquainted with her through her husband's description.
Meanwhile, MacLaine must cope with her two troubled daughters. One (Marcia Gay Harden) dresses up like movie characters as a way of coping with the loss of her child and her divorce. The other (Kathy Bates) feels utterly ignored by her mother when she's not critical of her appearance.
This is a nice, weird idea for a movie that, with better direction, could have been made into a true gem. Unfortunately, the ideas are sadly underdeveloped resulting in a fairly dull film.
There was a nice bit where a child somehow gets the notion that his dead grandfather has formed a force-field around him thus rendering him invincible. This could have provided a highly-entertaining, hilarious comedic diversion from the main, potentially intense, story -- but it proves to be as weird and dull as everything else.
I am not saying that "Used People" will put you to sleep. It's good entertainment if unremarkable.
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Starring:
Shirley MacLaine, Marcello Mastroianni, Kathy Bates, Marcia Gay Harden, Jessica Tandy, Sylvia Sidney, Bob Dishy, Emma Tammi, Asia Vieria, Lee Wallace, Louis Guss, Gil Filar, Maia Filar, Irving Metzman
Directed by:
Beeban Kidron
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1992 drama
Rated PG-13
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Don Ignacio's score: B