Hush

Jessica Lange commenced her career by following in the (admittedly light) footsteps of Fay Wray. She seems determined to end it by stomping in the heavier footfalls of middle-period Joan Crawford. As the cyclonic star of this film, Lange runs the gamut. She flings her arms around, tugs at her hair, reverts to that coy, sideways glance that implies she's only about, oh, forty five, bellows out in growling chest tones, sobs hysterically - she does, to state it simply, the lot. Which leaves her co-stars understandably bewildered. Gwyneth Paltrow manages to look more annoyed than frightened, and when, in the best Scooby Doo manner, she neatly ties up the loose threads of the plot, annoyance gives way to abject boredom. With her dead fish eyes and droning monotone, Gwyn obviously wants the whole thing over with more than we do. Quite an achievement. And few could blame her. Of all the silly premises that have been put on film, the monster mother is surely the silliest. Its mighty hard to believe that Jessica's Ken doll son has managed to go thirty years without once telling the old cow to put a sock in it. Perhaps I'm a bit obtuse but I still don't quite get the bit about the murder with the suction pump (or whatever it was.) At any rate if some post natal, gormless drip can figure it out surely it shouldn't be taxing the police too much to make an arrest. That would imply real life of course, and Hush has nothing to do with that. If you're in the market for an aged, raging southern belle then you can't go past this, but have a look at the genuine article - Joan Crawford in "Queen Bee" - first.

Hush (1998) is a thriller about a new mother in law who's hiding a dark secret. It stars Jessica Lange, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Johnathon Schaech. I love thrillers and mysteries, especially when it features actors and actresses I like. I am a big Lange and Paltrow fan, they are both great actresses. They turn in fine performances here, to be honest Jessica Lange is the best part. If the cast had been different I'm not sure I would've liked this film at all. It does have flaws, the writing is average at best and it's not the most exciting thriller to watch. I'm only giving Hush a 7/10 because of how much I enjoyed the performances. I was disappointed by the script, I thought it had a lot more potential. The potential wasn't completed wasted, but a good bit of it was and it could've been a lot better.

Though this movie was somewhat slow and predictable it brings out the worst side of Jessica Lange. She had an outstanding performance as the evil Mother-In-Law to Gweneth Paltrow. I have never seen her in a role as evil as this one. I believe that Gweneth showed the strength and heart of her character. She lost both her parents, was mugged in her own home and then stands up to her Mother-In-Law to prove to her husband what an evil person his mother is. Way to go!!! Personally I liked this movie. What the movie doesn't bring out right away is the lengths that "Martha" will go to take the baby and keep her son on the farm. This movie is one of the best suspense movies that I've seen in a while.

I just rented this last weekend and it is a bomb. I am so surprised to see Jessica Lange in something like this. This was totally predictable, but nothing really ever happens. The end is pretty evil, but why didn't they build up to it? Gwyneth Paltrow was so bland, and Jonathan Schaech, who smoldered in "The Doom Generation", was even duller(keep in mind, they have very little to work with). Would you believe a baby is born, yet no one bothers to call a doctor? HELLO, plot hole. Go weed the garden, watch a dog grooming contest, ANYTHING but suffer through this one.

Everybody should just relax and enjoy watching a red hot, middle aged Momma's sexual jealousy over her beautiful daughter in law. The photography was great, loved the rural location (without the stupid horses), and Gwyneth and Jessica look as good as they ever have. The problem is that the director tried too hard for believability, and that resulted in a very average, plodding, sometimes laughably bad movie. If they had taken it over the top, like what you find in good novels, (torture, perversion), then we would have had a classic. Its a shame they held back because Jessica and Gwyneth looked amazing. Who cares if their performances weren't great? Their screen presence made up for it. They were ripe for a deliciously violent, twisted older woman/younger woman B-movie and the director blew it. (Check out Piper Laurie and Sissy Spacek in "Carrie." They set the standard for over the top, twisted mother-daughter action.)

I don't know whether they give Oscars for casting, but if that is the case, the person responsible for casting for this film must be at least a nominee. I'm just amazed how such established actresses as Lange and Paltrow have been agreed to take part in this 'plot is thinner than silk-paper'-film (blackmailing? ;->). Every scene is predictable and the story itself has been told thousand times. There aren't any camera-angles that make you say 'wow, nobody thought of that before' either, so the end-result is very average. I'm all too aware about the existence of bad mother-in-laws, so this one just didn't cut it for me... 3 out of 10.