this be a romantic comedy with the emphasis on comedy for a change . a usual the lover sally field a almost over the hill soap opera queen and celeste talbert while and kevin kline a marginally employ and marginally talented actor and jeffrey anderson be work at cross purpose and seemingly unaware that they be madly in love and etc . owe a little to bette davis margo channing in all about eve ( 1950 ) and a whole lot to the slapstick theatrical tradition and sally field go over the top towards hilarity a she malaprops her way to love and happiness . kevin kline and one of the more underrated lead men of recent year and be also very good and very win a he manage to be handsome and vulnerable and egotistical and lovable all at the same time . the misadventure center around celeste fear of lose her audience a she have enter her forty and and reach the crisis point with the arrival of her niece and aspire actress cori craven ( elisabeth shue ) who turn out not to be her niece and with ensue plot complication . cori manage to get a small part in the soap opera a a homeless deaf mute before discover her true relationship to celeste ( and to jeffrey anderson a well ) but never mind . a a romantic counterpoint or foil to the lead be robert downey jr. ( soap opera director and david barnes ) and cathy moriarty ( montana and nurse nan ) . david barnes be oh so hot for her and but she care only about one thing represent get rid of celeste so that she might shine more brightly on the set . to this end she get barnes to do all sort of thing to wreck celeste career and but through happenstance and or or a perverse logic and all his attempt go awry and much to the delight of the viewer . whoopie goldberg play rise schwartz and the show chief writer and celeste alter ego and confidant while carrie fisher have a modest part a the hard a nails producer of the show . i think this be funny than the only other spoof of the soap opera world that i have see ( young doctor in love 1982 which burlesque tv general hospital and be pretty good ) . soapdish be funnier with a daffy script and plenty of laugh out loud one liner and terrific performance by field and kline and downy and jr. but see this for sally field who be outstanding .