WISHFUL DRINKING (2010)
Featuring Carrie Fisher.
Written by Carrie Fisher.
Directed by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey.
Distributed by HBO Documentaries. 75 minutes. Not Rated.
Carrie Fisher never quite lived down to her initial fame. Every time we figured we had her figured out, she surprised us by exposing some new wrinkles to her personality. She was never merely a daughter of famous parents, nor was she merely a space opera heroine, nor a rock star's ex-wife, nor a famous manic depressive (as she points out here, her picture is actually in the bi-polar handbook).
She has also turned out to be a very talented writer (with several hit novels like Postcards from the Edge), a surprisingly witty comic performer.
Wishful Drinking is a filmed performance of Fisher's highly personal one-woman show - loosely based on her book of the same name - which takes a smart and funny look at her rather extraordinary life.
From her introduction ("I'm Carrie Fisher and I'm an alcoholic") to her comically melodramatic exit (she is removed from the theater on a stretcher and driven off in a waiting ambulance), Fisher shows self-awareness and self-deprecation, which is both surprising and surprisingly entertaining.
Whether the subject is scandalous (her parents' merry-go-round of marriages) or edgy (her acknowledgment that George Lucas has been exploiting her likeness for most of her adult life) to personal (her two failed marriages and experiences with electro-shock therapy), Fisher is always refreshingly candid and often gut-bustlingly funny.
No matter how serious things get she keeps it light. As she points out early on, in life you eventually hit a point that you have the distance that what was tragic somehow becomes funny.
It's nice to see that Fisher has reached this point. The writing is sharp and knowing and yet warm and humorous – of course Fisher has proven herself to be an even more talented writer than an actor over the last few decades. Her timing and delivery are spot on. If Fisher decided on yet another life reinvention, stand-up comic would be within her grasp.
The idea of a one-person show is always a dicey affair in film. Without the distractions of other characters and settings, the shows can really drag out of the context of the theater unless the material is really first rate.
The 75 minutes of Wishful Drinking sprinted by, leaving you hungry for more. Fisher is truly a fine hostess. The show is confessional without being uncomfortable, irreverent without being trite, serious without being self-pitying.
It seems that being herself truly is Carrie Fisher's greatest role.
(Note: Despite the fact that this is listed in the "Available at Your Video Store" section, at the time of this posting the movie is only available as a documentary running on HBO. It is almost inevitable that it will be released on DVD, but there is no official release date set.)
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2010 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: December 10, 2010.
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