The Users

Don't expect quality from Spelling. That Jaclyn Smith cant act is widely known but did the established heavy weights not read the script?

Tony Curtis as a burnt out bisexual has been desperate for a comeback. Jaclyn Smith plays an extra who wants more. Joan Fontaine as a powerful Beverly Hills socialite. Add George Hamilton and Michelle Phillips.

The best scene is when Fontaine graciously greets Smith then tells her she never met a prostitute before.

This dumb, trashy film is what Iowans think Hollywood is.

I remember when I first saw this I was high on the love of Charlie's Angels and anything that the actresses from that show did. I thought this was the best thing I had ever seen. And then a few years later I saw it again without the rose colored glasses and was not as enthralled with it.

I have also recently leaned or at least reminded of a lesson I have always known -- often these shows are not as good as the books they are based on. Now the book The Users by Joyce Haber is not the greatest book out there, but it is far better than the mini-series they based on her book. Watching the mini-series and reading the book now it is almost as if they took the names from the book and wrote them a totally different story.

Forget the series and read the book.

Jaclyn Smith never embarrasses herself as an actress. Although her beauty is likely what got her cast on TV's "Charlie's Angels", Smith was often terrific on that show, showing intelligence and spunk. Unfortunately, no one working in films or television has ever been able to tap that sassy side of her again--she's often been a clotheshorse in roles. In "The Users", a useless potboiler adapted from Joyce Haber's equally useless novel, Smith plays muse to a faded Hollywood hack, climbing the ladder of celebrity herself only to find Lotus Land full of backbiters. Despite Dominick Dunne as producer (and co-screenwriter with Robert J. Shaw) and old friend Aaron Spelling as executive producer, this melodramatic soap opera for ABC-TV has sudsy dialogue and tatty trappings. We do get to see Tony Curtis being picked up by a young man at a party...also Red Buttons doing business from a hot tub (!). As for the star, Jaclyn Smith gave much stronger performances on "Charlie's Angels". Say what you will about those ladies, but they didn't suffer fools or Hollywood phonies. ** from ****