Customer Reviews

Jinxed!

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had to give this film three stars just because I have such a soft spot for it. Yes, it's bad. Yes, the plot is thin. Yes, the movie can't decide what it wants to be...black comedy, romantic comedy or drama with a murder twist. Yes, there was no chemistry between Wahl and Midler. Yes, there was tons of back stage fighting between Wahl, Midler and the director.

However, the film does have its good points. Hear me out. The second half of the film (after Rip Thorn commits suicide) is laugh out loud funny. The tumble weed scene still cracks me up. The look on Midler's face after the weed hit her is priceless. The scene with Miss Nina is always a gas. And the line Midler shouts at the insurance man is still one of my all time favorite Midler lines ever. "Talk to my a**! My head's had enough!"

The film had the potential to be a really good black comedy. I've always wondered just what happened with this film. Outside of the whole in fighting between the principles. Something just didn't translate from script to screen. This film had to look better on paper. I'd love to see some of the deleted scenes to see if there was someway to piece together the rather disjointed plot. Maybe in the future some one will dig those up.

Anyway, the film is worth one viewing just for the second half. Not recmended for the average viewer, but if you're a Bette fan like me, then this movie is a must see. If just to see if what everyone says about it is true.

A note to all buyers of this DVD edition from MGM.
While the picture quality is better than the Vhs version and looks good but not great, the audio has a major problem.
This film was originally filmed with a Dolby Stereo 2.0 track but on this DVD the audio is just in 2.0 MONO!
The sound is horrible and flat.

Get out the popcorn and get your friends together for this one. Jinxed is the funny and cute story about a "jinxed" blackjack dealer Willie (Ken Wahl --HOT!!) who is being followed from job to job by a gambler (Rip Torn) and his wife (Midler), as they make money off him! Naturaly, Willie can't keep a job, until one day he meets up with Midler and they have some steamy love scenes and they fall in love. One problem--her husband is a possessive, abusive low-life who won't allow her to leave him. So Midler and Willie devise a scheme to murder her husband and run off together with his life insurance policy and gambling winnings! Not all goes according to plan, and there are some big surprises and laughs along the way.

This is one of those movies where everything is quite absurd, but lovable and fun just the same. The plot is actually quite clever and the performances are very good. Just a light, funny, so-bad-its-good movie that would be entertaining to just about anyone. Yeah, it was a flop, but that's part of its charm. Lighten up and enjoy it!

Bette Midler's plays a lounge singer in Reno who plots to kill her abusive boyfriend with the help of a befriended card-dealer, leading to a fun scavenger hunt for the man's hidden loot. There are some big laughs in this comedy, mostly due to Midler's hamming and wicked throwaway lines that established her career. Ken Wahl is a tepid stud, but Rip Torn is a hoot as Midler's scummy roommate. Overall, I don't understand why the critics did not like this film and have always referred to the movie's outcome by its own title, Jinxed!

This comedy is a vehicle for The Divine Miss M, Bette Midler. It was made after her first Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for "The Rose" and before the first (Down and Out in Beverly Hills) of several films she would star for Disney. One can see her great talent as a comedic actress and the song she recorded for this movie is fun.

It was director Don Siegel's last production and it's making is a whole new story: he had a heart attach during production, was replaced by Sam Packinpah who would die prior to him...

The superstitious nature of the concept of a "jinx" is behind this movie.
In Little Abner there is a character with a cloud over his head and lightening strikes him from it periodically: symbolizing his jinx.
Here we have a black jack dealer in a casino in Nevada who is
is followed by his "Jonah". The whole movie is on this theme of luck with murder thrown in. It just isn't believable that three modern people could act this stupid? Maybe if they set this in ancient Greece,
people might be able to take this level of gullibility?
All of the stars of this movie deserve a better script than this.

This film had some good moments, however the setting in rural Nevada doesn't help, too many redneck hicks, would have been better in Atlantic City, a tougher setting not held back by primitive 19th century environments

It is unfortunate that this little comedy has been so cruelly maligned, by even Miss Midler herself. So it wasn't high art. So it set her then promising film career into a (temporary) downward spiral. So it wasn't the ideal vehicle to follow The Rose. So what! Bette did her best against the horrible machismo of Ken Wahl [whatever became of him, and who even cares?]. Also, the uncooperative & unsympathetic Don Siegel [again, who cares?]. Legend, and loads of bad press, had that she was very much a diva. Well, why not? It was her career, not the men, that was set to skyrocket or spiral, not theirs.

Often have I played this little trifle on rainy weekends with friends (or alone) & we hold our sides with laughter. I saw it many times from opening through it's abbreviated theatrical run. Other fine (some better, some worse) comedies have followed, but it is long, long overdue on DVD. I will again watch...and laugh. Praise be the always Divine Miss M!

In this film, the full-legth motion picture follw up to THE ROSE, Bette is less serious than THE ROSE and not as funny as her follow-up DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS. There was more drama behind the scenes to this movie than the movie itself. Based on the movie DOUBLE INDEMNITY with Barbra Stanwick, a story of how a woman tries to kill her husband, collect the money and run off with her new love. Bette adds a little humour to the role. The highlight, of course, is the shower scene with her dead husband and black humour. If you're a Midler fan, it would be interesting to see her in this film in her early comic stages. But don't expect the comic genious in the string of hits to follow:DOWN AND OUT..., RUTHLESS PEOPLE and OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE.

BETTE MIDLER COULD DO A SILENT MOVIE AND I WOULD LOVE IT. JUST TO SEE HER SMILE, MAKES ME SMILE TOO. AFTER THIS MOVIE FLOPPED......POOR BETTE HAD A TEENY WEENY BREAKDOWN BUT CAME BACK AS STRONG AS EVER. I JUST SAW HER IN VEGAS ( THE SHOWGIRL MUST GO ON ) AND SHE WAS AS GOOD AS EVER. GO ON LINE AND GET THE DVD IT'S LIKE BEING THERE.......LUV YA BETTE......DENNIS