bette midler – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

BARBARA WALTERS TELL ME EVERYTHING (Tribeca 2025) – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 16, 2025June 16, 2025 Leslie Combemale Anwar Sadat, Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything, bette midler, Bob Iger, Connie Chung, Diana Ross, Diane Sawyer, documentary, hulu, Jackie Jesko, Katie Couric, Monica Lewinsky, oprah winfrey, roy cohn, Tribeca 2025

Barbara Walters died in 2022, so it was time for a good survey of her importance to forwarding the path for working women, and her historic place in journalism. In Tell Me Everything, there are no deep insights, and the documentary isn’t breaking any new ground, unlike the woman herself. Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything still makes for compelling tv, and will likely inspire audiences who didn’t know just how important she was and is to American history. It’s a good thing it will stream on Hulu, where a wide audience will have access to it.

Movie of the Week

MOVIE OF THE WEEK July 26, 2024: THE FABULOUS FOUR

July 21, 2024July 23, 2024 Jennifer Merin Amazon MGM Studios, Ann Marie Allison, bette midler, he fabulous four, Jenna Milly, jocelyn moorhouse, Key West, Megan Mullally, sheryl lee ralph, susan sarandon

Sure, it’s hard not to think that making The Fabulous Four may have been an excuse for its quartet of stars — the legitimately fabulous Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Megan Mullally — to get together and have fun in Key West, but so what? There are far worse reasons to make a movie, and the end result is a light, breezy female friendship comedy that feels kind of like Bridesmaids crossed with Book Club and celebrates the lifelong bonds between women.

Interviews

Sophie von Haselburg on LOVE…RECONSIDERED, GIVE ME PITY! and Being American Royalty – Nadine Whitney interviews

January 31, 2024February 1, 2024 Nadine Whitney amanda kramer, bette midler, Give Me Pity!, Love… Reconsidered, Martin von Haselburg, Sophie von Haselburg

Sophie von Haselburg knows a bit about being “American Royalty,” but she has never traded on her famous parents (Bette Midler and artist Martin von Haselburg) for career recognition. Sophie prefers to work in indie films and smaller roles. In Love… Reconsidered she plays thirty-something Ruby Goldberg who has little to show for her life except fifteen failed careers and a rich ex-boyfriend. Nadine Whitney talks to Sophie about what it means to perform authenticity and her work with Amanda Kramer in Give Me Pity!.

Reviews

LOVE…RECONSIDERED – Review by Betsy Pickle

January 23, 2024January 28, 2024 Betsy Pickle Arielle Haller-Silverstone, bette midler, Carol Ray Hartsell, Love… Reconsidered, Sophie von Haselberg

First-time feature director Carol Ray Hartsell, working from a script by Arielle Haller-Silverstone, aims for laughs and hits her mark. The movie veers into silliness at times, but some of the humor works on a deeper level. While it’s not in the same league comedically or romantically as Oscar contender “Past Lives, Love… pulls off the same remarkable achievement of constantly putting a smile on viewers’ faces. Don’t be surprised if you spend most of Love… Reconsidered looking for similarities between the main character and Bette Midler. After all, star Sophie von Haselberg’s major claim to fame – whether she likes it or not – is being Midler’s daughter. And it’s von Haselberg who centers the quirky romantic comedy as Ruby Goldberg.

Reviews

SITTING IN BARS WITH CAKE – Review by Pamela Powell

September 7, 2023September 7, 2023 Pamela Powell Audrey Shulman, bette midler, Martha Kelly, Odessa A’zion, Ron Livingston, Sitting in Bars with Cake, yara shahidi

Sitting in Bars with Cake blindsided me in the first act as the story, initially thought to be a superficial one about young women in iconic Hollywood locations attempting to meet men, becomes a deeply meaningful and poignant tale about friendship and life. Inspired by author and screenwriter Audrey Shulman’s life, Cake delivers layers of heart and humor drizzled with just the right level of sweetness that leaves you completely satisfied as the final credits roll.

Reviews

THE COASTAL ELITES – Review by Martha K Baker

September 24, 2020September 25, 2020 Martha K. Baker (Archived Contributor) 0 Comments bette midler, hbo, issa rae, jay roach, kaitlyn dever, paul rudnick, Sarah Paulson, The Coastal Elites

Anyone who has followed Paul Rudnick’s career and appreciates it knows to keep following, nuisance-close lest missing a word. The Coastal Elites outshines his every other brilliance. It expands upon what it means to manage these agonizing days with heart and soul, laughter and vinegar.

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Keaton, Midler, Hawn Reunite for FAMILY JEWELS – Brandy McDonnell reports

March 3, 2020March 8, 2020 Brandy McDonnell 0 Comments bette midler, diane keaton, family jewels, goldie hawn, twiw, week in women

Diane Keaton, Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn will reunite on the big screen for the first time since 1996’s First Wives Club in the yuletide comedy Family Jewels. The dynamic trio of iconic performers will star as three women spending Christmas together, along with their kids and grandkids, after the man they were all once married to dies in a New York City department store.

Reviews

THE ADDAMS FAMILY – Review by Susan Granger

October 21, 2019October 21, 2019 Susan Granger 0 Comments Allison Janney, animation, bette midler, charlize theron, the addams family

With Halloween around the corner, this animated, sinister sequel with its snap-happy theme song has timing in its favor. In the ‘origin’ prologue, Gomez (voiced by Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (voiced by Charlize Therson) Addams are being married. Part of the ceremony involves putting a lime in a coconut and drinking it, like the 1971 Harry Nilsson song, as they vow to make each other unhappy for the rest of their lives.