Shirley Valentine

There is both much to admire and much to dislike about this filmed adaptation of the Broadway smash play of the same name. Pauline Collins (who won a Tony Award for her stage performance) is winning as Shirley, a 42-year-old English housewife, who goes to Greece on vacation with a friend and rediscovers the joy of living. As Shirley reminisces about her schoolgirl days or the early days of her marriage, we sympathize with her struggles to regain her sense of individuality: to become again the spark of a girl named Shirley Valentine. In Greece, she gets the opportunity to do so with a ruffled Greek tavern owner named Costas (Tom Conti)--whose explanation in broken English of the difference between sex and a boat ride nearly steals the show. Since the play was a one-woman monologue, Shirley does a lot of talking directly to the camera. Unfortunately, the filmmakers have tried to build a living and breathing comedy-drama around a stand-up comedy. The two approaches are awkwardly joined, and the audience is too often aware of the seams. In its depiction of an ordinary woman "coming of age," Shirley Valentine has much to recommend it. One just wishes that the resulting film had been as good as the writer's intentions. Optional. (R. Pitman) [DVD Review—May 1, 2007—Paramount, 108 min., R, $14.99—Making its first appearance on DVD, 1989's Shirley Valentine sports an unremarkable transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, and no DVD extras. Bottom line: an unimpressive DVD release of an uneven film.]