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Too much of everything

Absolutely brilliant

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Albert Einstein said that "Soapdish" was the greatest comedy he ever wrote, and was the inspiration for his e=mc2.Give a great comic script to Kevin Kline, Sally Field, Whoopi Goldberg, Gary Marshall, Robert Downey, Jr., Kathy Najimy, and Carrie Fisher, and you have a great comedy, a masterpiece written and conceived by Robert Harling.I howled whenever Gary Marshall, playing the producer of the television's soap opera program, met and spoke to his staff about what was needed to make a soap opera successful: his tennis pal called the show "The Sun Also Sucks"; he disliked depressing and expensive but liked peppy and cheap.Kline is superb in his comic mannerisms; and the interaction of Field and Goldberg is perfection.It is truly one of the best comedies of the 1990s.

Comedies like "Soapdish", even though were made more than 20 years ago, are such a standout from what's going on with the genre nowadays that we keep wondering what happened with movies like this? It's nice to see things like this now to see how good those movies were back in days, yet with some sadness since it wasn't much of a hit back in the days but now it might be a little more popular because of the cast involved, people really track down those flicks and now "Soapdish" is a Broadway musical. The soap opera world musn't be ashamed of "Soapdish". Its portrayal of TV divas, the craziness, the egos and the jealous among stars, all the rivalry and all the mess involving the behind the scenes of a soap opera is fairly and hilariously presented in the film that knows how present some realism of what happens in those shows. It's all about real drama recreating fictional drama and the crowds love them...as long it's on the screen with actors playing in both, the drama of their lives and the drama of the characters they play. Here we follow the many attempts of supporting player Montana Moorehead (Cathy Moriarty) in to convince TV producer David Barnes (Robert Downey Jr.) to find ways of replacing America's Sweetheart Celeste Talbert (Sally Field, in her most comical role since "Punchlines") from the leading role of a huge hit that gained her several Daytime Awards. But those attempts keeps failing again and again. One of the latest involves bringing back to TV an old lover of Celeste (both on TV and in real life) that now is a decadent performer of Willy Loman on a poor theater, the charming Jeffrey Anderson (Kevin Kline) that now is on his way to finally resurrect his career. There's the show's writer (Whoopi Goldberg) who not only tries to help Celeste, her best friend, during her crisis, but also has to deal with the constant changes on her creation ("The man's dead. He was decapitated, I checked. How am I supposed to bring him back on the show?). And there's Talbert's niece (Elisabeth Shue) who decides to join in the steps of her famous aunt and becomes an actress in a instant. There's some secrets involving her that are best to not present them here for obvious reasons. Confusion is set up and lots of laughs as well. With first rate humor, an energetically funny soundtrack composed of mambo themes by Alan Silvestri, "Soapdish" gives a curious and detailed look into the TV world, the people behind it, their lives and their personal dramas and how those gets easily intertwined yet it's a movie filled with laughs. And there's time for a sensitive moment when Whoopi's character cheers the mood of her friend who was in a complete wrecked mood. That moment, the shopping mall scene, is a good reminder that comedy not always must go for the laughters, thoughtful special sequences like those must be encouraged, they make the film memorable. Humor of best quality is reserved to absurdest parts like the one that involves the last chapter of the show broadcast live with the actors reading their lines from teleprompter (Jeffrey barely manages to read his already confuse lines) and often actors confuse the plot and the characters with their real self; or Barnes attempts to put his hands on Montana; the scene at the hotel with Celeste spying on Jeffrey has to be one of the best parts ever. Performances were amazing, the script was fabulous and very well written. It's quite an shock to understand why this hasn't got the bigger audience it deserves and the awards it should've gotten. Rare times that I laughed so hard with a movie. "Soapdish" is a truly must-see. 10/10

Very funny comedy from director Michael Hoffman and writer Robert Harling about a group of people whose 'soap opera' lives are more dramatic and interesting than the ones they portray in their daytime TV show, "The Sun Also Sets".The whole huge cast, including Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Elisabeth Shue, Robert Downey Jnr, Carrie Fisher, Teri Hatcher, Garry Marshall, Kathy Najimy and Cathy Moriarty, play off each other well, producing some very funny moments, while Whoopi Goldberg is delightful. Not of the great script select, however "Soapdish" is all good fun as it sends up that institution of daytime T.V., soap opera!Friday, October 18, 1991 - Knox District Centre

'Soapdish' is one of the best, yet least well remembered comedies of the 1990's. The film revolves around the various off-camera drama's that occur behind the scenes of a cheaply produced Daytime Soap Opera. The first of the film's various impressive strengths is it's fantastic A-List cast. 'Soapdish' features some of the greatest actors and actresses of it's era.The film is superbly led by Sally Field, as the neurotic ageing actress Celeste Talbert (She famously throws a tantrum when put in a costume that makes her look like "Gloria F*CKING Swanson!"). Her supporting cast reads like a who's-who of 90's Movie Greats! Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Downey Jr, Teri Hatcher, Kevin Kline and Kathy Najimy all elevate the film greatly. Goldberg is predictably excellent, whilst Downey Jr.'s and Hatcher's performances hint at the comedic excellence they would later achieve.In terms of writing, the film is outstanding. There is a really modern edge to the script, which strays into the wonderfully bizarre on several occasions. There also several visual gags that are quite ahead of their time. In some ways, the film is reminiscent of Mel Brooks at his best and frequently reminded this reviewer of 'High Anxiety' (1977). Much of the film's humour hinges on it's often scathing, but pretty accurate, representations of daytime television and of neurotic and pretentious actors. For example, The extras casting session featuring the exploitative executive played by Carrie Fisher, is both hilarious and honest.'Soapdish' is, for my money, one of the very best comedies Hollywood produced during the 1990's. It's excellent script and A-Class cast make it a must-see. It's hard not to love this film after it's kept you laughing for 90 minutes.