"Michael" A Film Review by Linda Lopez McAlister on "The Women's Show" WMNF-FM 88.5, Tampa, FL January 11, 1997 I saw this film a week or so ago, but didn't review it then because I was doing my "Ten Best" routine last week. But since it's a big hit and still around, I thought I'd go back and pick it up today. I wasn't in the mood for " Evita." And I flat out refuse to go see "The People vs, Larry Flynt" which, as Gloria Steinem pointed out brilliantly in "The New York Times" earlier this week, is based on the outrageous premise that Larry Flynt, a misogynistic, violent-porn-purveying, accused child molester is some kind of First Amendment hero just because he was acquitted of a libel suit against Jerry Falwell. His daughter, who accuses him of abusing her as a child, even joined the feminist protests that greeted this film when it was nominated for several Golden Globes (or should I say "golden balls"?) Hollywood would think twice about glamourizing the KKK or the Neo Nazis (who also won lawsuits based on the First Amendment), but woman-hating is still acceptable enough in this society to make Larry Flynt recuperable as a hero. It makes me shudder. Anyway, on to more pleasant topics. I love Nora Ephron's films, I guess because I love Nora Ephron. I happened to catch a C-SPAN broadcast of a commencement speech she made at Wellesley College last summer in which she pointed out that of last year's five Academy Award nominations for best actress, the roles they were nominated for were: hooker, hooker, hooker, hooker, nun. Tell me again how far we've come? A hugely successful writer/director who notices such things and is herself a feminist and writes many of her screenplays with her sister Delia Ephron is someone you can bank on to make films that are not offensive to women. Now they're not always explicitly feminist films, but even when, as in "Michael," the two main women characters are rather in the background, they're invariably nuanced, interesting people who have a presence in the film other than one that's reflected through the eyes of some man. Something you can't take for granted. The Michael of the title of this film is none other than the first Michael-- you know, the Archangel, the one who fought Beelzebub and threw him out of Heaven. He's, as you might expect, a great lover of combat even though he's incredibly sweet by nature, too. He's so sweet that when he's on one of his periodic assignments on earth he eats whopping amounts of sugar and gives off the odor of a delicious candy store/bakery. It attracts women to him like bees to honey. Michael (played to perfection by John Travolta) is on earth this time because Pansy Milbank (Jean Stapleton), a poor but feisty widow in Iowa, prayed for help and Michael was sent down to do something about the local bank that was causing her problems. A piece of cake for Michael. "They called it a tornado," he remarks, matter-of=factly. While he's here he has another assignment: to make Frank Quinlan (William Hurt), a jaded reporter on a supermarket tabloid, back into a feeling human being. Frank, his colleague Huey, and Huey's little superstar dog Sparky are assigned by their editor (Bob Hoskins) to go out and investigate this alleged angel. Assigned to go along with them is a supposed "angel expert" Dorothy Winters (Andie MacDowell), who's real job is to get something on Huey so the editor can win a bet and get possession of the gold-mine canine. It's a weird group. It gets weirder after they meet Michael--the grubbiest, earthiest, angel you never imagined--and he agrees to go back with them to Chicago (but only if they go by car; he doesn't like to fly and he wants to stop along the way to see such items from the "Guiness Book of Records" as the world's largest ball of twine). It's quite a trip. Michael, dressed in a dark topcoat to cover his very impressive set of wings, tends to attract trouble and women. He's not salacious in his interest in women--angels are asexual, supposedly--but he's contagiously good humored and and loves to dance. we don't see what happens when he and a woman are behind closed doors, but one of them is overheard to remark "Wings! Far out!" I predict that 'Michael," a very well done and funny piece of cinematic angelic whimsy, is one you'll find entertaining and enjoyable. 's For the WMNF Women's Show, this is Linda Lopez McAlister on Women and Film. Copyright 1997. All rights reserved. Please do not copy or reproduce this review without permission of the author: mcaliste@chuma.cas.usf.edu.