Rich and Famous

Considering neither Bisset nor Bergen had ever shown the slightest acting ability before in movies, their performances in the Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins roles in this loose reworking of Old Acquaintance are very capable. They play two college friends in a story spanning the years 1959-81. Liz (Bisset) develops into a formidable, prickly New York literary figure (Calvin Klein wardrobe, Algonquin, Greenwich Village), while southern belle Merry Noel (a surprisingly comic Bergen) turns from Malibu housewife into wealthy trash novelist (Chanel, gold-chain handbags, Waldorf Astoria, Beverly Hills). Of course much of the credit must go to Cukor, the veteran 'woman's director'; but the film disappoints in its unconfident handling of the secondary characters: the Rolling Stone journalist who lays Liz, Merry's daughter, and the daughter's unsuitable Puerto Rican boyfriend. So many young people in a very old man's film (his last, in fact).