if only bette davis and joan crawford could be alive today and see this . two emasculate she wolf battle it out they think because they want one man and but really and it all about ego and oneupmanship and and with two equally establish actress such a meryl streep and goldie hawn and both look exceptionally beautiful in their mid 40 and death becomes her be a visual treat that throw back an unintentional but hilarious reference to the aforementioned diva who precede them . very tongue in cheek and and whoever saw ( and read ) the sustained repulsion davis and crawford sustain throughout their life and mirror in whatever happen to baby jane . will not be lose on the background reference . a simple premise presides represent madeline ashton ( streep ) and a fading b movie actress and relegate to perform an awful musical base on sweet bird of youth and set sight on renown surgeon ernest manville ( bruce willis ) whom helen sharp ( hawn ) have take to meet her a a test to prove he will still be hers after their meet . needless to say and he drop his commitment to helen and marries madeline and and send helen into a spiral self destruct mode . year later she become a bloated whale a shell of her former self living in total abandon and watch madeline movie obsessively and seethe in hatred and until she be evict from her apartment and have a brilliant idea while in a mental facility represent she must eliminate madeline . madeline and on the other end and be no less happy . a total and absolute bitch and she have reduce ernest to blubber . she hat the way she look at 50 and the way young girl preen their perky look . both live in marital hell . an invite to attend helen book party ( on beauty ) have her howling in laughter beauty tip from a disgust fattie . please . but when she see that helen be now a svelte redhead and she balk and their reunion be one of drip and beautiful venom and the highlight of the entire movie . distraught and she seek the advice of a mysterious woman and lisle von rhuman whom she be refer to earlier and and she give her what seem an innocent potion to drink which will restore her look . meanwhile and helen be plan to have ernest dispose of madeline and rekindle their botch affair . when madeline return home and she get into a heated argument with ernest and he push her down the stair . she be dead . or be she . a marvelous setup that until this point in the story work and but one which later take a left turn to be overcome by silly fight scene and cartoonish special effect that recall tim burton circa 1987. the triangle of actor work absolutely perfectly here and streep drip with venomous line reminiscent of elizabeth taylor overwhelm performance a martha in who afraid of virginia woolf . while however and hawn and willis and while establish a personality more than actor of considerable range and fare well than streep in that she be expect to play hers to perfection . hawn on the other hand prove she capable of very dark role that suggest more than they give . willis and stripped of his usual machismo and come across a a broken man who throughout most of the film be emasculate but make one crucial decision which save him from an uncertain fate . cast these three actor be cast against type work in this edgy comedy and and if anything and it final act be it own weakness and a if the writer have somehow not know where to go with the inevitable and violent encounter between them but all in all and it still very enjoyable . robert zemeckis and though and make one glare mistake during one of the key scene . when streep rise from the ground and we see willis in the foreground talk on the phone to helen who want to know if she be dead . we know she be not while the deep focus have establish she be not . a she slowly make her way to where willis be and zemeckis chooses to cut to hawn for a brief second . big mistake . we do not need to see her sit in front of her shrine of hatred for madeline we know she hat her and it quite clear so he should have hold that scene perfectly still and allow u to see streep get close and closer to the forefront . that be suspense in itself represent how will willis react to see his wife shuffle her way to him . but the use of deep focus be something that have fall out of vogue in film making and a if they have lose the interest to really tell a visual story and and the quick cut to hawn be the need to give her a moment screen time .