Shirley MacLaine

[7] Meryl Streep plays a drug-addicted actress forced to stay with her celebrity mother (Shirley MacLaine) in order for insurance companies to allow her to continue working in Hollywood. Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) directs this pseudo-autobiographical story written by Star Wars‘ Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher (based on her novel). Nichols captures Fisher’s decidedly snarky, self-deprecating tone on what could …

[7] Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine star in this romantic comedy from Billy Wilder. Lemmon’s a police officer and MacLaine is the prostitute he falls in love with. After he loses his job, she takes him in and provides for him. In an effort to get her to retire, he impersonates a wealthy British man who negotiates a lucrative, monogamous relationship with her. But the …

[8] Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine co-star as women running their own private girls’ school in The Children’s Hour. Hepburn’s character is about to get married to James Garner and MacLaine’s character is pretty melancholy about it. But all their lives are turned upside down when one of their young students, a particularly nasty little girl played with villainous spite by Karen Balkin, accuses the …

[6] Frank Sinatra plays an unhappy writer and WWII veteran who has trouble readjusting to life in his scenic Indiana hometown. The screenplay, based on a novel by James Jones, gets lackadaisical in the middle, but Vincent Minnelli does a good job capturing both the quaint and stifling qualities of small-town life. Sinatra is good, but he’s easily outshined by his colorful costars. Shirley MacLaine …

[5] Shirley MacLaine plays a jinxed woman whose four husbands meet tragic ends in this satirical comedy about money and passion. There are a lot of great moments in What a Way to Go, but the sum isn’t greater than the parts. The disjointed narrative is made nearly tolerable by screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who also brought together the fractured tales of Singin’ …

[8] The film adaptation of Robert Harling’s play is unabashedly melodramatic, nostalgic, and sentimental. Some of those qualities usually annoy the hell out of me, but the ensemble of great actresses and the slew of memorable one-liners make Steel Magnolias hard to resist. I care less about the dramatic Sally Field/Julia Roberts center story (mother, daughter, wedding, pregnancy, illness, blah) and more about the group …

[7] Jack Black stars in this quirky comedy about a beloved Texan mortician who begins a relationship with one of the town’s wealthiest widows and becomes prime suspect in her murder. Writer/director Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Dazed and Confused) adapts from a true story and involves several real-life townspeople as supporting players in the cast. The documentary style of the film fits the story very well, …

[4] Around the World in 80 Days is a three-hour-long, episodic adventure that’s high on spectacle and low on story or character. I wager it played better to a 1950s audience interested in seeing a cliche-ridden “It’s a Small World”-like pastiche of world cultures. I wish leading actor David Niven had more to do in his role — it could have really helped the film …