Beetlejuice - **1/2
Now Playing: (1988, Tim Burton) [seen in theatre]
I haven't seen this since it first came out on video, and I didn't much like it then, largely I think because it was sold as a zany Michael Keaton comedy, when it was anything but. Now, a decade and a half later, I dug it more, but I'm still not a huge fan or anything. A big part of the problem is Beetlejuice himself- Keaton is at his best when he's dryly goofy, but here he's encouraged to mug and riff, and it really doesn't suit him. Every time he's onscreen, the movie grinds to a halt. Still, there's a lot of good stuff on display here. The film's first few reels are great, as we begin with blissful married couple Adam and Barbara, played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis when they could still convincingly anchor a movie. The story begins innocently, and then gradually becomes darker as they spiral downward- first they discover that they're dead, then they find they can't leave their home, and finally the home is sold to the vile, vulgar Dietzes (Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones, both hilarious). I also enjoyed Adam and Barbara's trips to the Beyond, presented here as a bureaucratic nightmare, with macabre makeup creations galore and a crochety case worker played by Sylvia Sidney. The highlight of the film, one of the few scenes I dug even back in the day, is the bizarre dinner party, in which Adam and Barbara possess the Dietzes and their guests and making them dance around and sing "Day-O." The fact that Winona Ryder doesn't get many laughs in this movie isn't really her fault, since as a Goth type she's the obvious Burton surrogate, an outcast, but curious about the strange supernatural goings-on in her new house. The fact that I liked the movie more this time made it all the more disappointing that I didn't love it, since there's so much great stuff on display- but it's not like you can cut out the title character, right?