Basically a good, old fashioned farce, Soapdish focuses on the people on and off the screen in a hit TV soap opera, but it's their offscreen lives that provide the real soap opera.

A great cast appears to be having a really good time in this flick, which was actually a lot more enjoyable than we expected. Sure, it's predictable and silly, but it's funny predictable and silly, with excellent actors mugging their way across the sound stages with wild abandon.

Sally Field is the aging star of "The Sun Also Sets," a long running soap that's currently in a ratings slump. To bring back the audience, the producers bring back a supposedly dead character (Kevin Kline) who was also Field's offscreen lover many years ago. Until the soap brings him back he's kind of in exile, doing dinner theater as Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman."

His comeback coincides with the introduction of a new character, a mute homeless woman who also turns out to have her share of closet skeletons when it comes to Field and Kline.

The movie has many funny moments, though it never really manages to get all the dots connected. It doesn't seem to matter, though; when a cast is having this much fun being outrageously silly, the energy passes through the screen and enhances your enjoyment of what is basically an empty plot about empty people.

Besides Field and Kline, the cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Cathy Moriarty, Elisabeth Shue, Whoopi Goldberg and Garry Marshall.

Not nearly as good a Soap Opera movie as "Tootsie," but definitely worth a view.

The DVD is presented in anamorphic widescreen, 16x9 TV compatible, with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio. The picture is a tad soft, with very saturated colors, but the combination actually works very well. Audio is fine; not spectacular, but it's okay.

Extras include a behind the scenes featurette (see, Paramount is learning!) and the trailer.

Soapdish, from Paramount Home Video
96 in. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Starring Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Robert Downey Jr., Cathy Moriarty, Whoopi Goldberg
Produced by Aaron Spelling and Alan Greisman,
Written by Robert Harling and Andrew Bergman, Directed by Michael Hoffman

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