Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16648 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-07-14
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Synopsis
An actress with a drug and alcohol problem, recovering from a near fatal overdose, accepts a minor role in a film on the condition that she lives with a responsible person during her rehabilitation. That 'person' is her mother, a big star from the 50's who sees herself in her daughter. Both must reach a mutual understanding if they are to live in harmony... Music by Carly Simon. Based on a novel by Carrie Fisher.

Customer Reviews

A Hidden Gem!
Since 2008, many people will now associate Meryl Streep with Mamma Mia, and then think "wow, she's good" and possibly watch the oscar winners - but Postcards From The Edge, which wasn't a big film, and not one of Meryl's blockbusters is certinaly a hidden gem in her impressive career.

Based on a true story, this is the story of Suzanne Vale, a actress just out of a rehab clinic, who, in order to do this movie, has to live with a responsible parent (enter Shirley MacLaine)

Suzanne battles staying off the drugs, while her mother drinks smoothies made with vodka! Love the mother daughter bond between them.

Postcards is a film that you can watch time after time, and you'll have the end song "I'm Checkin' Out" going round in your head for weeks after!

Good performances in a fun but lightweight movie
Based on a semi-autobiographical book by Carrie Fisher, who also wrote the screenplay, Postcards from the Edge is a big budget Hollywood soap opera about an actress who enters rehab, and is then placed under the care of her faded star mother by the film studio. Postcards is essentially a two hander between Meryl Streep, as Suzanne Vale, and Shirley MacLaine's Doris Mann.

Fisher knows more than a little about growing up as the daughter of a movie star, and also plenty about addiction and its ravages. She's publically stated that the book is a work of fiction and not based on her own past, but its impossible not so see her and Debbie Reynolds in the two main characters. Both lead actresses are fantastic, Streep is endearing and empathetic as the lost and stressed starlet, while MacLaine acts up a storm as a woman who can't accept that her time has passed and that she is as much an addict as her daughter ever was. Through the kitchen sink conflicts there's never any doubt that these women do love each other and that all the snapping and put downs are just a shield. The supporting cast are strong as well, Dennis Quaid is charming as a would-be suitor of Suzanne's, and Gene Hackman is fantastic in a ten minute role as a movie director.

While the script is well done and the acting is the movie's attraction, as a story it's a bit slight. Despite holding addiction as a theme it remains pretty light and fluffy and we barely see the consequences of drug and alcohol dependency. The soft focus on self-abuse and sharp eye on two women re-establishing a relationship keeps it from being essential while still keeping it watchable. There's also a mild feeling of Hollywood navel-gazing about the whole project with unscrupulous agents, crappy low budget movies, and cameos by big names like Richard Dreyfuss, Annette Bening, and Rob Reiner.

It's a fine example of an enjoyable, pretty lightweight film that can while away an hour and a half. It's a star vehicle, but a fun one that doesn't tax the mind.

Meryl and Shirley - a great combo
I'd seen this movie when it first came out and it didn't really click with me, maybe I was too young to understand the mother-daughter dynamics fully. However, I watched it again a few months ago and it is very good (and scary in Shirley MacLaine's case). Meryl Streep is wonderfully brilliant as always, and the fact that it is based on a true story ('Princess Leia' Carrie Fisher) makes it even more engaging. It's funny and sad, but mostly funny. I love it.