In my world, Elaine May is a goddess. A forgotten auteur and an even rarer bird than simply being a female filmmaker, she's a great female filmmaker. So I was especially  excited to see this J. Hoberman piece considering her career in honor of an Elaine May retrospective running February 25-28 in New York City.

 

The once comic duo with director Mike Nichols, May directed two devastatingly funny and dark depictions of love gone wrong, the brilliant "A New Leaf" starring May herself and Walter Matthau and the Charles Grodin bit of desperate viciousness, "The Heartbreak Kid" which Hoberman calls a "masterpiece of social pathology." Following those two successes were "Mikey and Nicky" a terrific, gritty John Cassavetes, Peter Falk crime picture and then..."Ishtar." 

One of the most underrated and unfairly maligned comedies ever made (the first half hour is comedic gold-seriously) Hoberman defends the Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman supposed "turkey" as "the most adroit political satire to emerge from Hollywood during the Iran-Contra stupefaction of Ronald Reagan's second term."

 

Yes. More "Ishtar" appreciation is needed for too many knee-jerk, believe-the-bad-press movie patrons (and critics). And of course, more appreciation for Elaine May. I only wish this retrospective was playing here in Los Angeles. Warren? Dustin? Can't you pull some strings? --posted by Kim