Customer Reviews

Goddess of Love

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This could have been a really fun film if the role of Venus had been cast with someone who could act. Vanna White is a very attractive woman, but she has the emotional ability of a melting snowball. Her line readings were as flat as the western Kansas plains. It is no wonder that she was not cast in another "acting" role after this film.

Taking the basic idea of "One Touch of Venus" with a statue of Venus coming to life and causing havoc for the hero, there were some delightful touches. David Naughton as the hairdresser (barber in "One Touch---") was excellent and that had to be difficult in the scenes with Vanna as he got not one bit of support from her. He had to carry every bit of the story.

SPOILER: The viewer is very relieved at the end when the hero is united with his mortal wife to be and Venus leaves, mainly because Vanna has not generated any quality to make anyone root for her.

The special effects are excellent for a TV film from 1988. These and the good actors in all roles, except Venus, make this a nice viewing experience.

Vanna - stick to turning letters.

Goddess Of Love is the type of movie so fun, frivlous and campy, that you know it could've only been made in the 1980's.

While at the height of her Wheel of Fortune popularity, Vanna White was given the opportunity to star in a tv movie. In this, she plays Venus, who awakens from statue form when soon to be married Ted Beckman (David Naughton, An American Werewolf In London) places a wedding ring on her finger to prove a point to his playboy best friend (David Leisure from Empty Nest) that he is going to remain loyal to his fiance (Amanda Bearse, Married With Children).

The movie is absolute fluff, and that is the reason why it is so appealing. Vanna has minimal acting talent, but her charisma illuminates and makes every scene she's in fun. If you cannot handle campy 80's films, this is not the movie for you, but if you wanted to see Xanadu and Mannequin mixed into a blender in the vein of Earth Girls Are Easy (which also came out in 1988), you will adore this movie.

However, I do wonder what Phillip Baker Hall was doing here, he's actually a respected actor.

When I heard about this movie, I just assumed that is was a rip-off of "Mannequin." Well, I was right, but it is very entertaining indeed!

Vanna White plays Venus, Goddess of Love. After failing miserably at three attempts to seduce mortal men, her parents Zeus and Hera (played by John Rhys-Davies, from the TV series Sliders, and Betsy Palmer, Jason Voorhees' mother in Friday the 13th!!) turn her into a statue until the time comes for her to have one last chance at love. Jump to "Los Angeles--Someday" as the subtitle reads; Ted Beckman (played by David Naughton of American Werewolf in London) is getting ready to be married in a few days to his fiance Cathy (Married with Children's Amanda Bearse). His best friend Jimmy (Empty Nest's David Leisure) takes him out to a club for one last night out on the town and through a series of events, they begin talking about the wedding. Ted ends up slipping the ring on a mysterious statue of Venus that's sitting in the courtyard at the nightclub; but then he can't get it off. Well, it turns out that putting the ring on the statue's finger awakens Venus (Vanna White) and she believes that she is now betrothed to Ted and must take him back to Mt. Olympus with her. Chaos ensues as Ted struggles juggle many problems. He has to hide the secret of where the ring went to his fiance, fight off the advances of Venus who refuses to give the ring back, and also deal with the cops who are now looking for a missing statue. Throw a couple of thieves/burglars into the mix (one is played by Boogie Nights' Philip Baker Hall) and you have an over-the-top, funny, and cute movie.

The acting is all very convincing. Vanna White plays Venus with a sort of vacuousness that comes with not understanding the feelings and emotions of mortal love. Everyone seems to be having fun with their role, realizing this is just Made-for-TV fluff that is just meant to entertain on a rainy day. The special effects are VERY good for a 1988 TV movie. It looks really cool whenever Venus goes from being a statue to being human or vice versa. She also can conjure up thunder and lightning, and destroy things by shooting them with a lightning bolt. All this is done very well. One scene has Venus levitating in the air while lightning flashes on her over and over and you cannot see any wires. All in all, good job...and I'm picky about my special effects! :)

There are no special features on the DVD, just the original fullscreen presentation and a scene selection divided up into eight chapters.

If you are looking for a good fun time, pick this movie up, you won't be disappointed!!!

I got this movie at walmart for 3 dollars and it was actually good. I loved it.

Beautiful Vanna White would seem a PERFECT choice for this remake of
"One Touch of Venus". She sure looks the part! Only one problem...she can't act at all, (or couldn't, when this movie was made). In this story, a statue of the Goddess Venus comes to life, in a modern setting. But Vanna's acting in it is so....so Wooden(!)....that even a devout Vanna White fan such as myself, just couldn't help laughing all the way through the movie! This is, in the end, a totally unintentional, totally hilarious COMEDY! because of Ms. White's sadly, abismally poor acting in it. One of my fellow-reviewers hit it just right, saying that Ms. White has, im this TV movie, "the acting ability of a melting snowball." (Or is that snowflake?) It really is SO sad that beautiful Vanna White -- who comes across, (at least to me), as SO genuine, when she becomes and speaks a few words for herself, at the end of the "Wheel Of Fortune" show, should be so terrible an actress, as to make even me --a great fan of hers -- to laugh throughout the telefilm!

I hope Ms. White has taken acting lessons in the interim, and can now act better than she did in this movie. In the meantime, if you sometimes feel depressed, and/or bad things are happening in your life, take 90 minutes or so off, and watch this unintentional comedy. (I suggest it be "double-featured" with "GALAXY QUEST", a movie that Ms. White did NOT act in, (though SIGORNEY WEAVER, and TIM ALLEN did)....but which is also one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Even bad acting has a place in this world....and giving laugh after laugh, as GODDESS OF LOVE does, is, I believe, God's intended purpose for this
too-often-put-down gem of a film. Also -- laughter makes you smile a lot. Smiling a lot is actually a BEAUTY treatment! And becoming more beatiful, (and/or handsomer), is often one part of attracting the opposite gender! So, maybe, (if she indeed exists), the REAL Goddess Venus DID have a purpose for this movie, after all!

[...]

P.S.: I recently actually bought a copy of this video, to watch it again, so that my review would not be entirely through the haze of memory. I'm sorry to report that it wasn't even funny this time around -- maybe because I was prepared this time for bad acting and hilarity. This time around, I found neither -- or at least, not as bad as I had thought it would be. I didn't laugh -- or even smile -- once. Sadly, I even bought a second copy for my sister, because I thought she could use a laugh or two. But I, at least, did not get one laugh from this movie...it was not a "laugh", but a "drag". I will say the dialogue is a bit better than some of the forced dialogue of a show like, for instance, "Hannah Montana", or "Sabrina The Teen-Age Witch" (live actor version)...etc....but that sure is not saying much. The action and dialogue here are not forced...but they do drag. About the only bright spots in acting were John Rhys-Davis as Zeus, and Betsy Palmer as Hera...but their roles were miniscule. There is also the nice fantasy element of a Greek goddess coming to life...but you get all that, AND good acting, AND a great script, AND a wonderful theme song, AND even some comedy, in the original of this story, called: 'ONE TOUCH OF VENUS', with AVA GARDNER. 'GODDESS OF LOVE' is only a very pale immitation --it's not even funny. There is earnest acting, (even from Vanna White)....but, though everyone does seem to TRY to make it a good story, it only winds up being TRYING! For real magic, see 'ONE TOUCH OF VENUS'.

THIS movie is a bore. The actors all try very hard -- but when there is a boring story, and boring dialogue, what can they do?

And -- what can I do? Well, I guess I can always use the DVD version of 'GODDESS OF LOVE' as a beverage coaster, (sigh!)