Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

richspenc There's something about this film that has always lifted my spirits. Part of it is that I always liked Roseanne and Dan on Roseanne. She always played a cocky quirky she devil type on the show. Always had a confident tough attitude who also had a good sense of humor. My favorite Roseanne episode was the one on Halloween where Roseanne dreams she is going forward in time, meeting with a spooky pumpkin head, and seeing herself old (where she at first thought she was looking at her mother).There were a lot of good things about She devil. Ruth (Roseanne) was tired of getting mistreated by her husband Bob (Ed Begley jr). A couple nights after a dinner party where they meet successful wealthy writer Mary Fisher (Merel Streep), Ruth and Bob get into a horrible fight in front of his parents after she first, burns part of the dinner. Then, after a disgusting surprise in the casserole dish just out of the oven (one of the kids couldn't find his gerbel), Bob looses it completely. He tells Ruth in a fit of rage a list of things he wants in his life, and that she has been the one keeping him from having them. He also tells her how horrible he thinks she is. She's incredibly hurt, and writes down all of the things Bob said he wants and secretly plans on taking each one of those things away from him. This is where the movie really gets good. Bob moves in with Mary Fisher. Ruth gets to work trying to, one step at a time ruin Bob's life. The upcoming scenes are sweet. Ruth setting the house on fire by putting aersal cans in the microwave, putting running hairdryer under pillows, and overloading electrical outlets (kids, please don't try this at home). I bet somewhere in America in real life, someone disturbed and psychotic tried to do to their house what Ruth did to hers in this movie shortly after it came out. She then dumps the kids on Bob at Mary's "palace by the sea". I like how Ruth several times narrarates Mary and her palace by the sea in different ways, once saying she hopes her palace crumbles into the sea. I like the next chain of events, from Ruth working at the wealthy nursing home Mary's smart alecy mother's at, meeting that little older nurse (forgot her name, remember her also as principal in Kindergarten cop) and sharing a box of donuts and cake, then ultimately hopping a bus to New York and opening an employment agency for lonely women (Vesta Rose, come bloom with us!). I love Miss Olivia Honey, she's that typical beautiful, but airhead, but sweet type. Ruth sets her up with Bob as his new secretary. Since he only looks at women as a piece of meat, he got his work cut out. Funny how he drifts from Ruth then to Mary then to Olivia. How each next woman is younger and thinner than the one before it. But we already knew Bob was a superficial materialist. Then Bob hurts Olivia (because Olivia wanted to marry him and all he wanted was a piece of tail). Ruth is still hurting over how Bob hurt her earlier in film, and Olivia hurting over what I mentioned above, so the two of them perform the ultimate revenge on him. The beautiful sly way Olivia looked when she smiled and said "two hundred thousand dollars". Sweet revenge in this film.

mark.waltz Both films are worth seeing, but the British TV version is much darker and takes the storyline to levels that are shocking when compared to the very Hollywood-ized version with Meryl Streep in her first comedy and TV star Roseanne Barr in her film debut. The idea of those quite opposite women starring opposite each other is a strange sight to even envision, but they only share a few scenes together. They do, however, share the leading man, and that is Ed Begley Jr. as an amoral accountant. He humiliates Barr at a dinner party to which Roseanne announces (in front of his parents and children) that he is having an affair. Begley storms out and Barr lets out a loud scream, her plans of revenge covering every important aspect of her no-good husband's life.Reviews were sensational for Streep as the vain Mary Fisher who even gets a "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" spot while Barr spends time cooking her son's gerbil in a casserole and fuming over Begley's infidelity. Streep is thrilled when Begley moves in with her, but Barr's revenge has her dumping off the kids on them while she goes to work in the nursing home where Streep's mother (a very funny Sylvia Miles) resides. Once Roseanne takes Miles off her medication, mouthy Sylvia is ready to return to her daughter's mansion on the hill and adds more turmoil to Streep's already growing frustration.The film also includes Academy Award Winning Linda Hunt as Barr's initial foe at the nursing home who becomes her best pal after Barr goes out of her way to start an employment agency for Manhattan wives abandoned by their husbands. This aides in her quest for revenge, and boy, for Barr, is it sweet. The film unfolds all of Begley's evils towards both women in his life, and before you know it, Barr is smirking and Begley prepares to learn a great lesson.Reviews were not so sensational, however, for Roseanne, who in spite of her dead-pan acting (already famous for her starring role on her own TV series) but in retrospect, she makes this role more than just a revenge-seeking harpy. The sight of Barr trying to squeeze her way into a glamorous strapless evening dress is humiliating visually but many women could probably identify, and while they might not seek the same time of "War of the Roses" style revenge, enjoyed it on screen. Daytime soap star A. Martinez adds comic Latin sexuality to the studly butler tossed aside by Streep, while another soap veteran, Doris Belack, is memorable as Streep's agent. Mary Louise Wilson is delightfully imperious as Barr's boss at the retirement home.If the film focuses mainly on Streep, Barr and Begley, the real credit thought must go to Susan Seidelman, the film's director, who prevents the film from becoming a man-bashing women's lib fest. Men can see the growing frustration in Barr's sometimes grossly dowdy character, and in the end, you really can see why she might all of a sudden quote Peter Finch in "Network" and scream, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

lambiepie-2 For those reviewing this film who are putting down Rosanne Barr, the truth is that she was the PERFECT cast for this film, as was Meryl Streep. Where it went wrong was the script and direction. Based on the book and series The Life and Loves of A She-Devil; the Americanization of this film was wrong. It went for laughs. This was NOT a funny subject.The original series was engrossing and you felt for the fat, really ugly suburban neglected wife at the end. She slowly and methodically got her crappy husband back. To be honest, Roseanne could have been even more fatter and uglier in the beginning; and her transformation to the 'she-devil' over the years could have been more dramatic. They did not let Roseanne BE Roseanne in this. If they did, she would have mop the floor with this role.When I heard that Roseanne was cast for this film against Meryl Streep, what a good contrast and choice! Meryl was great! Old enough, pretty enough, vapid enough, spoiled enough - but then again, Meryl wasn't allowed to be... Meryl! She was phenomenal in transitions back then and needed that here if the script was serious.Bagley was a good choice for the crap husband; but Eric Roberts would have been devilishly better if they kept with the seriousness of the book and BBC series.I saw the TV series first, and week by week it kept me riveted back then. Then read the book and by that time, this film was being done. When I saw the film (on cable) finally, I was pretty ticked. The casting was right for all, the script was horrid.Maybe someone in America needs to look at the book again soon, and this time do it with the seriousness it was. Yeah, you'll initially hate the she-devil, but you'll hate the folks around her more and at some point start rooting for her as she climbs UP through the muck of her boring life, of letting herself go thinking her life was fine and it was not, and her adulterous thoughtless, degrading husband.

ravi-gorowala Meryl Streep as an actress is in a league of all time greats and a legend in her lifetime. In She Devil (and this is a must watch movie ) she has performed a role at odds with her persona with grace and panache.The fast aging author unhappy without a man in her life is played to perfection. The scene in which Meryl Streep is just getting out of bed and mistakes the dog licking her toes for the man in her life is exceptionally well played.She uses her fully clothed behind to communicate the frustration so exceedingly well it is a scene which stays firmly etched in the mind.It is great to see the movie breaking typecasts and stereotypes and unravels like a fairy tale the female version of David taking on Goliath.