Hollywood Watch — The Mirror Has Two Faces: Sterling

Gregory Larkin teaches math at the same university and is recovering from a torrid sexual affair, so he wants a sexless liaison and advertises for an over-35 woman. And Rose is the chosen one. She isn’t pretty and that’s one of the qualifications for applying to the ad. Her sister Claire (Mimi Rogers) has already discarded two husbands. Alex (Pierce Brosnan) is the third.

Their mother Hannah (Lauren Bacall) is a widow but still eligible and this upsets Rose. There is a mother-daughter rivalry and the sister is bored with the obsessive attention her husband pays her.

In all this Rose is upset that Gregory isn’t even making a pass at her. Like the "harmoniously balanced perfect morsel" Rose begins her meal with, director Andre Cayatte starts well.

The setting is right, the establishing shots good. But then the film gets into Streisand’s known obsession "Am I ugly / Am I pretty" and drifts. Though the conclusion fails to convince, she delivers good lines and her supporting cast includes George Segal, Mimi Rogers, Brenda Vacaro and the evergreen Lauren Bacall. Despite the latter-half weakness and Streisand’s pet peeves The Mirror Has Two Faces might just be worth it.

Last Man Standing : Central Plaza

When Bruce Willis walks into a near-deserted town ("most of what they call decent folks, they’ve all run off"), it could be the beginning of any of those Wild West classics. But Last Man Standing is more a tribute to the spaghetti Western which came into prominence in the late l960s with Clint Eastwood and those Dollar films, courtesy Sergio Leone.

That there are two warring gangs, one Italian and the other Irish, is incidental. But Willis, alias John Smith, is Mr Smart. The others are morons. Bruce Dern is the gutless sheriff and Christopher Walken the hired killer with one good line, "I don’t want to die in Texas, Chicago may be." Is that a reference to Al Capone’s city? For the action is more like the mafia at work, gang warfare of the urban kind.

That Walter Hill should choose such a subject is surprising, but the ballad-like treatment gives it an initial thrust. Cars replace horses. The plot is simplistic and Willis is like the one-man army. There are copious doses of violence, the women are easily manipulated and the hero does his good act. It may do for those who haven’t seen the best of the Wild West.