If you’re looking for an escape from the winter doldrums and the ever-present depressing news, check out Soapdish, a silly 1991 look at the soap opera world and all its lunacy. It stars a game Sally Field as daytime TV icon Celeste Talbert, who plays long-suffering heroine Maggie on the fictitious show The Sun Also Sets. Field is ably supported by Whoopi Goldberg as head writer Rose Schwarz; Robert Downey, Jr. as David Seton Barnes, the show’s conniving producer; and Cathy Moriarty as Montana Moorehead, an actress on the show who wants Celeste gone.
Because David is interested in Montana sexually, he agrees to help her edge Celeste out, but every scheme they concoct backfires on them. They hatch a plan to bring back actor Jeffrey Anderson (Kevin Kline), a former lover of Celeste who was on the show 20 years ago, and whom she had fired. When we first meet him, he’s doing Death of a Salesman in a Florida dinner theatre before a distracted senior audience to comic effect. Also added to the soap cast, unknown to Celeste at first, is Lori (Elisabeth Shue), Celeste’s niece who plays a homeless extra.
Celeste is high maintenance. Rose takes her to malls so she can be recognized by adoring fans to receive much-needed validation. She feels that costume designer Tawny (Kathy Najimy) is sabotaging her by having her wear a turban (“What I feel like is Gloria effing Swanson!,” she laments). When Celeste notices her niece getting closer to Jeffrey she freaks out and tries to stop the burgeoning romance. Why? In true soap opera fashion, Celeste has been keeping a secret, which I won’t spoil here.
Adding to the farcical fun are Teri Hatcher as Ariel, another scheming actress on the show who helps facilitate a big reveal; Carrie Fisher as a lecherous casting director (“Let’s try one with your shirt off,” she suggests to auditioning actor Costas Mandylor); and Garry Marshall as the network head honcho. Look for Sex and the City’s Stanford, Willie Garson, in the writer’s room with a full head of hair (!), and real-life soap stars Finola Hughes and Stephen Nichols in cameos.
Everyone seems to be having a blast in their roles, with Field spoofing her trademark waterworks, and Kline bringing new depths to the vain actor trope. But it is Moriarty who steals the film. Her line readings are priceless. Deviousness never looked so good. A close second is Najimy as the clueless costumer.
Soapdish was written by Robert Harling and Andrew (Blazing Saddles) Bergman and directed by Michael Hoffman. Harling also wrote 1989’s Steel Magnolias, which Field co-starred in. So settle back and enjoy all the backstabbing, campy chaos and loopy storylines of The Sun Also Sets…whoops, I mean Soapdish.