Elisabeth Shue Returns!

[AndyDursin]

OK I firmly admit I had a crush on Elisabeth Shue growing up (and who wouldn't after watching ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING as a teenager?).

I'm not sure where she's been in the last 5 years since HOLLOW MAN came out, but she's in this apparently-horrid new Robert DeNiro (who makes one of these turkeys every year to pay for his restaurant) and Dakota Fanning (whom I'm growing sicker of by the minute) thriller HIDE AND SEEK.

It's strange how she wins an Oscar, makes a few movies, then disappears off the face of the Earth. Heck, even Famke Jenssen gets billed above her! (Did she take time off to have kids?).

Anyway, I may have to check the movie out just to encourage her to get back into the swing of things. A few critics said how nice it was to see her on-screen again, but unfortunate how awful the film is....then again, we ARE in the "Dumping Grounds of January" as I like to call it, so I'm not much surprised.

[Edmund Kattak]

Andy, I agree. It has been long overdue.

But, I don't think that she actually won the Oscar for her part. I believe Susan Sarandon won for DEAD MAN WALKING that year (1995). I know she was nominated. I remember that Nick Cage won the Oscar in his part.

In any event, I think she got her degree from Harvard in 2000 in Political Science - which probably accounts for some of her absence. I also remember reading in Parade Magazine (about the time of HOLLOW MAN) that she was focusing on her 2 children.

Adventures in Babysitting as always been a guilty pleqasure. Although, I think it was a mistake for her to bare some nudity in that god awful movie LINK. Both she and Terence Stamp should have steered clear of that apefest.

But what did you think about her in Soapdish? The movie was forgetabble, but she's so cute that it's hard to resist.

[AndyDursin]

Ed,
I stand corrected -- you're right, Susan Sarandon won that year (though I still think Elisabeth should have copped the Oscar, dammit!).

I'm glad to see she pursued family and finished her degree -- and that she's back on screen. Hopefully what everyone has said is a minor, blah kind of role in this HIDE AND SEEK flick will get her back in the spotlight and into some better roles.

Thoroughly agreed on SOAPDISH -- the movie was cute but quite forgettable, as were quite a few of her roles back in the '90s. She did make a few clunkers too before she disappeared (remember HEART AND SOULS and David Koepp's TRIGGER EFFECT?), but I enjoyed THE SAINT....ridiculous but surprisingly romantic for its type, with what remains for me easily Graeme Revell's best score. I realize some folks hated that movie, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it and thought it held up well on DVD a few years back.

[Monterey Jack]

Personally, I thought that Elisabeth looked her sexiest in Palmetto. The movie itself was a pretty routine Body Heat knock-off, but anyone who's ever nursed a crush on Shue will find certain scenes to be quite interesting.

[romanD]

agree on all of it folks... but I thought in HOLLOW MAN she was quite miscast, she is not a Sigourney Weaver type and the tough heroine wasn't something credible for her.

hey, I almost got an extra part in it, so I would have maybe stood next to her...

I think SOAPDISH is great! One of my favorite comedies! I think Cathy Moriarty is hilarious in it (one of my favorite actresses, though she is in almost no movies... )...

and Famke Jansen is great, too! Not only sexy, but funny, tough, sensitive... not many out there with those qualities!

[AndyDursin]

Well Roman, I could make the argument that EVERYONE was miscast in HOLLOW MAN (Kevin Bacon? Josh Brolin?), which was another step downwards in the career path of Paul "Mr. Crazy" Verhoeven.

I will, however, check out PALMETTO...immediately!

[Monterey Jack]

Well Roman, I could make the argument that EVERYONE was miscast in HOLLOW MAN (Kevin Bacon? Josh Brolin?), which was another step downwards in the career path of Paul "Mr. Crazy" Verhoeven.

Say what you will about the film in general, but Kevin Bacon was freaking fantastic in that movie. A shame that the screenplay consistently let everyone involved down. The ingredients were there for a disturbing take on the Invisible Man formula (with ace visual effects and a smokin' Jerry Goldsmith score, probably the last gasp of his agitated 70's style), but that Friday The 13th finale...

I will, however, check out PALMETTO...immediately!

A word of warning...there's no skin on display. Still, some very sexy scenes with the lovely Miss Shue (although she's even more miscast as a femme fatale than she was as a scientist in The Saint and Hollow Man).

[Neo Rasa]

I saw Alexander and I saw John Wayne as Ghengis Khan, so Shue's miscasting in those roles didn't irk me one bit.

I agree about Bacon in Hollow Man. I think he's very underrated in general.

Either way, I'm really glad to see Shue on screen again, even if the movie seems like a real dog from what I've been reading. I'll at least give it a rental.

[Eric W.]

Shue is just great. Beautiful woman, good actress on the rise, under utilized. I even liked her in The Saint. She was one of the few assets in that film. She needs to be in an outright hit, A+ film again.

[Monterey Jack]

OK I firmly admit I had a crush on Elisabeth Shue growing up (and who wouldn't after watching ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING as a teenager?).

Incidentilly, I saw Adventures In Babysitting for a mere $6.99 at Best Buy today, and couldn't resist. It's still a charming little movie (kind of a teenage riff on Martin Scorsese's After Hours), and seeing Shue bouncing around and lip-synching to "And Then He Kissed Me" over the opening credits, I can totally understand Andy's youthful crush on her. Decent Michael Kamen score, as well.

[AndyDursin]

OK I firmly admit I had a crush on Elisabeth Shue growing up (and who wouldn't after watching ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING as a teenager?).

Incidentilly, I saw Adventures In Babysitting for a mere $6.99 at Best Buy today, and couldn't resist. It's still a charming little movie (kind of a teenage riff on Martin Scorsese's After Hours), and seeing Shue bouncing around and lip-synching to "And Then He Kissed Me" over the opening credits, I can totally understand Andy's youthful crush on her. Decent Michael Kamen score, as well.

Yes that movie WOULD be the one that established my then 13-year old crush on her. It IS a fun movie, too -- don't forget Vincent D'Onofrio as Thor, future "Rent" star Anthony Rapp, and indeed Bradley Whitford (later of The West Wing) as the snake who cancels on Elisabeth at the last minute.

It's all great...except I never liked George Newbern. How could she end up with HIM??

[Carlson2005]

[Yes that movie WOULD be the one that established my then 13-year old crush on her.

For me it was Link - Babysitting (or A Night On the Town as it was bizarrely retitled over here) merely confirmed what my lower echelons already knew.

[Monterey Jack]

It's all great...except I never liked George Newbern. How could she end up with HIM??

Incidentally, unless there's another actor with the same name, George Newbern voices Superman on Justice League!

[AndyDursin]

It's all great...except I never liked George Newbern. How could she end up with HIM??

Incidentally, unless there's another actor with the same name, George Newbern voices Superman on Justice League!

I believe they're one and the same. Good thing for him he's heard and not seen in that role

[Monterey Jack]

It IS a fun movie, too -- don't forget Vincent D'Onofrio as Thor, future "Rent" star Anthony Rapp, and indeed Bradley Whitford (later of The West Wing) as the snake who cancels on Elisabeth at the last minute.

I was also stunned reading the end credits to realize that Shue's mousy friend she was going to pick up at the bus station was played by Penelope Ann Miller! It's amazing what a pair of glasses will do...