[4]

A country girl leaves her stifling life behind to try and make it in the big city, serendipitously becoming the most popular radio talk show host in Chicago. Straight Talk is a Dolly Parton vehicle, and just about everything that’s good about it indeed stems from Dolly, whose natural acting instincts and easy charm go a long way for me. But Dolly’s not given enough breathing room in a script so formulaic it’s suffocating. Straight Talk works best when Dolly’s character is let loose to cut down her snobby adversaries, and it struggles the most when it tries to justify her romantic relationship with James Woods’ scheming character. Is it just me, or were the early ’90s the worst for formulaic romantic comedies? With Charles Fleischer, Michael Madsen, Griffin Dunne, Spalding Gray, Jerry Orbach, Teri Hatcher, Jay Thomas, and Philip Bosco.