Synopsis
A cunning and resourceful housewife vows revenge on her husband when he begins an affair with a wealthy romance novelist.
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Cast
- Meryl StreepMary Fisher
- Roseanne BarrRuth Patchett
- Ed Begley Jr.Bob Patchett
- Linda HuntHooper
- Sylvia MilesMrs. Fisher
- Elisebeth PetersNicolette Patchett
- A MartinezGarcia
- Maria PitilloOlivia Honey
- Doris BelackPaula
- Mary Louise WilsonMrs. Trumper
Recommendations
- 80
Variety
The casting is a real coup, with Barr going her everywoman TV persona one better by breaking the big screen heroine mold, and Streep blowing away any notion that she can’t be funny. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
Barr could have made an easy, predictable and dumb comedy at any point in the last couple of years. Instead, she took her chances with an ambitious project - a real movie. It pays off, in that Barr demonstrates that there is a core of reality inside her TV persona, a core of identifiable human feelings like jealousy and pride, and they provide a sound foundation for her comic acting. - 50
Los Angeles Times
As feminist polemic, She-Devil is dubious indeed. - 50
The New York Times
Miss Streep dives into this thimble-sized comedy and makes one believe - at least, while she is on the screen - that it is an Olympic-sized swimming pool of wit. - 40
Rolling Stone
Director Susan Seidelman takes aim at the box office with the team of movie queen Meryl Streep and TV slob queen Roseanne Barr. She misfires. Streep gets all the jokes, and Barr, looking stranded, plays it straight. Worse, nobody’s bothered to write them a big scene together. But for a while you can see the possibilities. - 40
Empire
An all-star lineup with some kookie moments, but a bit limp overall. - 40
Time Out
Streep's tentative foray into comedy is deliberately mannered, but the breathy delivery and constant fluttering of hands are nevertheless excessive. And in her film debut, Barr just isn't imposing enough to inspire notions of devilish vengeance. The film-makers have opted for frothy satire, but as comedies go this is lamentably short on laughs. - 30
Washington Post
Seidelman, Strugatz and Burns are so busy systematically constructing Barr's revenge and keeping her smugly vindicated, they fail to realize they've bulldozed all comical landmarks in sight. So it ultimately doesn't matter whether or not Streep is redeemed, Barr is vindicated, Begley is punished -- or whether or not they all go to hell in a handbasket. They're all buried under the rubble.
