ouble T from Mike Leigh ased on Gilbert and Sullivan's creation of "The Mikado," Topsy-Turvy" screens at the Michigan Theater. 7:30 p.m Ox Md#W DattV IR7r s MONDAY JANUARY 31, 2000 5a michigandaily.com /arts Midler, Lane fiar from 'Great' By Erin Podolsky Daily Arts Writer Bette Midler has always been some- thing of a showboat. That sort of thing *pens when you've been on stage for decades, and it's hard to drop the act when you do a movie. In a lot of instances, the diva act works ("Big Business" "The First Wives Club"). But because of the persona Midler has creat- ed, there's also a feeling that she brings with her that she's playing the same role again and again - or worse, merely play- ing herself. In "Isn't She Great," Midler is once din doing her old thing, although this e she's a diva without a shtick for much of the movie. As novelist (if such a term can be used for someone who Adams' By Kathryn MacEwen For the Daily exhibit sheds light , . . 4. The words "Lux Perpetua,' early church Latin for eternal light, have often been described on earth as the ways that light filters through the cloud right after a storm. This idea present occasionally in nature is captured in Ansel Adams' work, "Mt. Williamson, in Serera Nevada" The way the sunlight streams through the clouds creating rays of light on the valley of rocks below the mountain is reminiscent of the rays that inspired humans to imagine heavenly light on earth. In Adams' photographs the idea of heavenly light is captured breathtakingly. This work, along with 15 other photographs, are currently showing at the Museum of Art. The photographs span a large portion of artist Ansel Adam's life and are all of different outdoor shots from the western United States. In these 16 photographs, along with the rays of light, other minute details are obvious to the viewer. Details such as the smallest erosion lines on the granite walls of mountains, the leaves of the trees blowing before the Ansel storm and the glassy stillness of moun- Adams tain ponds are captured in such a way that can make one feel as though they are standing in the wilderness. Through Feb. 27; 2000 Details are only one part of Adams' work; the contrast of light and dark also makes a dramatic impact. In the work "Tetons and the Snake River," the con- trast is also quite noticeable in the snow- covered mountains against a stormy sky. Not only does the contrast in color cre- ate an artistic statement, but one of Courtesy of Universal Pictures Isn't Nathan Lane's eyebrows great In the latest Bette Midler travesty "Isn't She Great." A ' Isn't She Great Grade: D At Quality 16 and Showcase took the excesses she saw in show- biz and then gave them pseudonyms on the page) Jacqueline Susann, Midler caws and screech- es her way through 90 min- utes of sheer hor- ror as the ill-fated op p o r t u n i st. That's right, opportunist - whether we're that nobody would ever enjoy a movie in which the protagonist who happens to be dying like, say, Andy Kaufman, could be funny. But it comes off instead as crass and insulting. It's nice to see Susann crank out her sex, drugs, rock- 'n'roll pulp novel "Valley of the Dolls" and finally find a publisher. But she and Lane are so grating, so irritating, so unearthly in their attitudes and actions, that the moment passes very quickly. David Hyde Pierce plays Susann's Wonderbread, so-in-the-closet-he's-pay- ing-rent editor Michael Hastings. He is disgusted by the raunchy excesses he sees in both Susann's novel and Susann herself and sets about righting all of the pornographic wrongs in her so-called literature. Naturally, he grows to love her as we're supposed to do. But he's in a movie, and we're in real- ity, and "supposed to" becomes null and void long before the fourth time Midler squeezes herself into a hideous lycra out- fit that bulges in all the wrong places. If she's doing it in the name of character, fine - but how can we ever like her like this? It's an impossible task. There's dis- belief, and then there's fright night. The latter is what happens when the former is stretched too thin. "Isn't She Gret" stretches so much that Torquemada might as well be waiting in the wings. Paul Rudnick's screenplay doesn't help much. The, laughs fall flat for the most part save those few horrified snick- ers (and one genuine laugh courtesy of Hastings' grandmother and aunt) that come as a result of Susann's brazen pres- ence. Granted, Susann rarely plays the "poor me" card, but perhaps that's because Rudnick, Midler and director Andrew Bergman suspected from the get-go that to do so would be the final nail in an already DOA flick's coffin. All three principles have no excuse for this comedic dirge; we've seen Midler be hysterically funny in the past, Rudnick wrote "In & Out" and Bergman wrote and directed two great early 90s come- dies, "The Freshman" and "Honeymoon in Vegas." Susann's riches-to-riches storv about her insatiable, oft-repugnant quest for fame at the expense of others (her hus- band's self-esteem, her friends' close- ness) wreaks the same havoc on "Isn't She Great," failing to pay much attention to things external to the main thrust of Susann's quest. At one point Irving, her husband, leaves her. We have some idea why, but Susann never seems to figure it out. Could a woman who observed everything she saw behind the stage and screen really be so oblivious to her own love life? I doubt it. There's the sneaking suspicion about this recreation of Susann's life that maybe she's been bleached and bulldozed by what a writer, director and star thought the public wanted to see, leaving out the real story - the story that Susann might have told had she been afforded the chance. Making her so fame-hungry does her a great dis- service. Rudnick believes the best way to end a scene is to have Lane blurt out, "Isn't she great'?" Nobody ever responds to the question, so I guess it's meant to be rhetorical. Maybe this would have been a better movie if somebody had had the cojones to step up and just say no. Courtesy of University Museum of Art 'Oak Tree, Snowstorm, Yosemite National Park, Califomia' (1948). against the darkness of the wall. The starkest contrast of all is the subject matter of the drawings. The ancient depiction, that of a horse, is a sharp contrast to that of a swastika. The extreme contrast shows the viewer of the ancient civilization and mod- beliefs as well. The photograph . r "Antelope House Ruin" taken in 1942 shows an ancient Indian dwelling against a dark mountain wall. Next to the house are two wall paintings. One appears to be ancient and one modern. These two drawings, both done in white, stand out sharply ern hatred. The exhibit disappoints only in that just 16 ofA dams' works are gathered in this collection. Yet the amazing amount of detail and feeling in each individual picture makes up for the lack of quantity. a - Beginning with today's issue, the Arts section will use using letter grades as a means of eval- uation instead of the previous system of stars. The Arts staff believes this allows for both greater flexibility ahd more precision in reviewing films, albums, television programs, books and video games. With the letter grades, we hope to provide you with a more accurate review. - The Arts Editors supposed to sympathize with the hand Susann is dealt during the 20-odd year .hneframe of the movie (dead-end Oeer, the pain of being married to Nathan Lane, an autistic son, breast can- cer) is irrelevant. Sympathizing with a brassy woman who vants to be happy is one thing; sympathizing with a brassy woman who unwaveringly believes that the only way to be happy is to be famous is quite another. Susann - or Midler, or whoever - instead evokes not much other than pity acringing. "Isn't She Great" is very arly meant to be light-hearted, given We can help! Our GMAT prep course is the most thorough and exhaustive course available. 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RIPLEY (R) 11:05,1:45,4:25,7:10,9:50 STUART LITTLE (PG) 11:00, 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:05, 9:00 GREEN MILE (R)12:00, 4:00, 8:00 TnV STnRUV (M "'T T LJ 0