Synopsis
A privileged rich debutante and a cynical struggling entertainer share a turbulent, but strong childhood friendship over the years.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Bette MidlerCC Bloom
- Barbara HersheyHillary Whitney Essex
- John HeardJohn Pierce
- Spalding GrayDr. Richard Milstein
- Lainie KazanLeona Bloom
- James ReadMichael Essex
- Grace JohnstonVictoria Essex
- Mayim BialikCC (age 11)
- Marcie LeedsHillary (age 11)
- Carol WilliardAunt Vesta
- 80
Washington Post
Whatever its failings, Beaches speaks to women. It makes girlfriends think of calling girlfriends they haven't seen in 10, 20, 30 years. You can live without love, but "you've got to have friends," as Midler sings. - 80
Variety
[An] engaging tearjerker. - 63
Chicago Sun-Times
Beaches begins on a note of impending doom, and that colors everything else with an undertone of bittersweet poignancy and, believe me, there is only so much bittersweet poignancy I can take in any one movie. - 63
Chicago Tribune
I heard some sniffling among some audience members, but the story goes for one situation that is guaranteed to produce sympathy. Aside from that, we never accept Midler in her relationship with John Heard. Only her occasional singing redeems an otherwise emotional roller coaster that travels in slow motion. Barbara Hershey is wasted in a boring role. - 60
Empire
Sentimental, cliched and at times overdone but a true weepy if ever there was one. - 60
Time Out
But even though tear-jerking has never been so blatant, your tears of laughter are replaced, dammit, by tears of grief. - 50
Chicago Tribune
Beaches is a melodrama in the original sense of the term: a drama with music. And as long as the melo is handled by Bette Midler, who performs half a dozen songs, Beaches can`t be all bad. But the drama, as transacted between Midler and Barbara Hershey, is pretty dreadful. - 40
Chicago Reader
The film's oily overdefinition of various class and cultural categories (ranging from “poor” and “well-to-do” to “avant-garde” and “vulgar”) is strident enough to betray a condescending attitude toward the audience.
