It's always a depressing experience when you can feel magic happening in a film, and then it's never used to its full advantage. These were exactly my feelings after seeing THE BUTCHER'S WIFE, a romantic comedy with blond-haired Demi Moore. She plays a clairvoyant with an overactively romantic spirit, who uses her gift for telling the future to act as a matchmaker to assorted residents of a small town, one that resembles a small borough of New York. She tries out her whim by marrying the first man that touches her clairvoyant heart (George Dzundza), and goes to live and work with him in his butcher shop, hence the title of the film. Jeff Daniels plays a shrink in the town whose advising is countered by Moore and her fortune telling, leaving him to question her abilities and his own heart (he falls for her too, if you hadn't already guessed). There are some real wasted talents in this film, including Mary Steenburgen, who is a complete ditz with no real substance except to sing her heart out. Future Oscar-winner Frances McDormand also appears to no effect as a town lesbian. There is some beautiful set design for this film along with a few so-called magical portions, but these sections (precious few that they are) have no connection with the rest of the heavily disjointed script. When I think of all the love stories I've seen and been touched by, this one doesn't even come close with a ten-foot pole! Rating: One star and a half.
Review of The Butcher's Wife
