Working Girl (1988)

It's up there with any of screwball comedies of the 30s... Carole Lombard, Jean Arthur, Margaret Sullivan. a modern classic...and that's not hyperbole!

I've been watching this movie every now and again for almost 20 years (ye gads!), and it's always entertaining. Tonight, I noticed how effective and subtle an actress Melanie Griffith can be when she's directed well. She's a real jewel in this film. Sweet, sexy, smart with a "brain for business and a bod for sin". Mike Nichols clearly loved filming her. Her expressions are priceless. Watch for the wonderful scene when Harrison Ford and she are walking to the elevator and he's asking her out. That face of hers as the elevator doors close is just heavenly. That's Mike Nichols craft/artistry.

Sigourney Weaver also does a masterful job as a two-faced shark business woman. What's so wonderful about her character, the writing, is that Katherine doesn't have a conscience. She's crafty and slick and manipulative, but she's not out to hurt anyone, just put herself first. It's too bad if anyone get's in her way. She's not nasty, but there is no question that she is the most important person in the universe. It's interesting, too, how her duplicity is reflected in her wardrobe. Most of the professional women in the movie are dressed in ultra-conservative boxy business attire, but Katherine/Sigourney dresses sophisticatedly and elegantly. She knows how to play both sides, the professional yet still sexy professional. She's so powerful in herself that she doesn't feel like she has to dress like a man just because she's in a male- dominated career (mergers/acquisitions). yes, she's a monster/ogre, but as she states, "This is BUSINESS".

Harrison Ford is his usual witty, slightly befuddled nice guy. He's the James Stewart of the baby boomer generation.

Joan Cusack is a phenomenon with her iridescent eye-shadow and Bozo hairdo. I think has the funniest line in the movie-a warning to Tess: "You know, sometimes I sing and dance around the apartment in my underwear. Doesn't make me Madonna....never will". that's rich.

Look for Ricki Lake at the wedding.

I put this movie in the same category as Moonstruck, Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine. Transformation movies. I suppose you could call them modern day Cinderella Stories, but it's more about the women saving themselves as opposed to waiting for Prince Charming.

It's a pleasure to see this movie. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.