Soapdish Movie

The new film "Soapdish," a comedy about life at a fictional television soap opera, features cameos by real-life soap stars, mentions soaps such as "All My Trials" and "The Bold and the Brass" and has its share of the young hunk and sexpot characters who inhabit daytime TV. But does the broad humor of "Soapdish" and the travails of soap opera queen Celeste Talbert (Sally Field) of "The Sun Also Sets," reflect life as real soap actors, writers and producers know it?

The new film "Soapdish," a comedy about life at a fictional television soap opera, features cameos by real-life soap stars, mentions soaps such as "All My Trials" and "The Bold and the Brass" and has its share of the young hunk and sexpot characters who inhabit daytime TV. But does the broad humor of "Soapdish" and the travails of soap opera queen Celeste Talbert (Sally Field) of "The Sun Also Sets," reflect life as real soap actors, writers and producers know it?

Of the several ways to assess what an actor means to a movie, one would be to consider what the movie would be like if the actor weren't in it at all; that is, if someone else were doing the part. "Soapdish," the Michael Hoffman comedy, written by Robert Harling and Andrew Bergman, deals with the behind-the-scenes machinations of a daytime TV soap opera cast, each of whom is angling for prominent position on the show, either sexual or political--sometimes both.

Of the several ways to assess what an actor means to a movie, one would be to consider what the movie would be like if the actor weren't in it at all; that is, if someone else were doing the part. "Soapdish," the Michael Hoffman comedy, written by Robert Harling and Andrew Bergman, deals with the behind-the-scenes machinations of a daytime TV soap opera cast, each of whom is angling for prominent position on the show, either sexual or political--sometimes both.