Film Review: The Butcher's Wife (1991)

Even the more experienced viewers, those who know not to expect too much from Hollywood romantic comedies, can be disappointed with films of that genre. One such example can be found in The Butcher’s Wife, 1991 film directed by Terry Hughes, which teased the audience’s imagination intriguing basic premise only to discard it for the sake of cliches.

The protagonist, played by Demi Moore, is Marina, young woman who lives on North Carolina shore. She is convinced that she is clairvoyant and when a vision tells her that the next man she meets will be her husband, she believes it. The man she meets is Leo Lemke (played by George Dzundza), middle-aged and slightly overweight butcher from New York City who came to North Carolina for little vacation. Marina is so determined to make her vision a reality that Leo agrees to marry her after only two days. Marina afterwards comes to Leo’s butcher shop in Greenwich Village where she begins to make her husband uncomfortable with her ability to see future events. She also begins to use her powers to give advice to various women that she meets, including soap opera actress Robyn Graves (played by Margaret Colin), insecure music teacher Stella Keefover (played by Mary Steenburgen) or shop clerk Grace (played by Frances McDormand). Those women are professionally or romantically involved with Dr. Alex Tremor (played by Jeff Daniels), psychotherapist who has an office in the neighbourhood. He is at first infuriated that a strange and potentially insane woman tries to do his job, but soon realises that he is attracted to Marina.

The Butcher’s Wife is a generic romantic comedy that can be truly enjoyed only by someone who haven’t seen another romantic comedy in his or her life. Script by Ezra Litwak and Marjorie Schwartz tried to transcend the genre limitations by adding an element of magical realism. The concept works best in the beginning, when we see how protagonist’s actions are motivated less by emotion and more than her belief in destiny. This creates unusual situation in which an attractive woman ends with an overweight man twice her age and, later, creates a lot of humorous situation when Leo’s friends and neighbours react to it. Unfortunately, The Butcher’s Wife is destined to succumb to Hollywood conventions, including the notion that physically attractive people can have only other physically attractive people as their romantic partner. Because of that, character of sceptical psychotherapist is played by relatively young and good loking Jeff Daniels. Scriptwriters, however, also decide that it would be too cruel for Leo, played by veteran character actor George Dzundza, to be left alone so they find him a partner in a character played by Mary Steenburgen who also proves to be a talented singer. Unfortunately, Demi Moore in one of her rare roles when she is a blonde, fails to develop any chemistry with Daniels and her inability to maintain credible Southern accent also makes this film sound and look implausible. Director Terry Hughes, best known for his work on television sitcom The Golden Girls, also insists on Moore’s character walking barefoot in almost all scenes, which is never properly explained (except for possibly indulging certain fetishes among certain segments of the audience). Critics didn’t like the film and the audience was also unenthusiastic. Demi Moore later agreed with such verdict, claiming that her appearance had been motivated purely by financial considerations.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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