‘Isn’t She Great’ Romps in Celebrity Culture

“Isn’t She Great” is just the movie Jacqueline Susann deserves--and that is no put-down. In telling the story of the publicity-hound author of “Valley of the Dolls,” director Andrew Bergman and writer Paul Rudnick give Susann’s life mythical dimension in a mix of fact and fictionalized supporting characters that allows them to create a satire of popular culture and the flowering of celebrity worship from the ‘40s through the ‘70s that is as affectionate as it is hilarious.

Within their warm, amused embrace, Bette Midler as Susann and Nathan Lane as her devoted publicist-promoter-husband Irving Mansfield--ah, what glorious casting!--are able to create a couple who are outrageous, endearing and, finally, heroic. It’s a tricky business to have fun with your characters yet have them taken seriously as admirable human beings, but “Isn’t She Great” works faultlessly on both levels. We come away entertained by Susann’s colorful saga, moved by her courage and made aware of why she was important after all.

When “Valley of the Dolls,” cited by the Guinness Book of Records as the best-selling novel of all time, was published in 1966, Susann took the popular novel to new levels--or is it depths?--of lurid candor. It was the substance-abusing saga of three young women seeking love and success in New York City. One character was clearly based on Judy Garland, with a fourth character, an older woman, inspired unmistakably by Ethel Merman. Susann’s prose style was wretched, but she was a helluva storyteller because she wrote about--and believed in--what she knew of show business and of human nature.

As her first publisher’s assistant (Amanda Peet) remarks: “She knows what she’s doing.” Susann knew she was hardly a great literary talent, and extravagant praise drew from her a silent fish-eyed response that said, “You must be out of your mind.” Guided by Mansfield, Susann also revolutionized the way in which books were sold. Barnstorming the country, they promoted “Valley” like the movie it inevitably became and pushed the book with the salesmanship and personal touch of Estee Lauder descending upon a department store cosmetics counter.

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As Bergman and Rudnick tell it, Susann was a seriously failing actress when she met Mansfield. The two were clearly made for each other. All Susann knows is that she wants to be famous--”I need mass love!” she declares--and it takes quite a while for Mansfield--whose belief in her is as complete as his love for her--to hit upon the idea that her best shot at fame and fortune is as a writer. In fact, as early as 1946 she had published articles, and her first real success, in 1963, was “Every Night, Josephine,” in which Susann’s life was seen through her pet poodle.

What her public did not know until after her death at 56 in 1974 was that Susann and Mansfield were quietly and devotedly coping with a son, Guy, their only child, so severely autistic that early on he had to be institutionalized and remains so to this day. (The Mansfields’ mutual devotion, drive and commitment to succeed place their marriage in vivid contrast to the decadent and destructive relationships Susann depicted in her novels.)

What her fans also did not know was that throughout her celebrity years, Susann, a heavy smoker, was living on borrowed time, having been stricken with breast cancer in 1962 that would recur and spread. Susann was given to addressing God directly and asked him to give her 10 more years to accomplish all that she wanted to--and that’s exactly the length of time that was left to her. (She also wanted to ensure that her son would receive the best care possible for the rest of his life.)

If Susann’s novels made a direct hit with predominantly female readers around the world, she herself became a gay icon, and there have been successful--and hilarious--stagings of the script of the “Valley of the Dolls,” notably with drag performer Jackie Beat cast as the Ethel Merman character Helen Lawson, played in the movie by Susan Hayward, a last-minute replacement for Judy Garland. Susann was campy, she was kitschy, but she was also tough and silently brave in the face of tragedy. And she was honest, and at heart she and Mansfield are shown to be humble, ever-grateful for any and all good fortune that comes their way and uncomplaining when confronted with life’s cruelties; clearly, it was a matter of pride and responsibility that they maintained an upbeat image to everyone.

All these are qualities that allow Midler and Lane to bring Susann and Mansfield so vibrantly and endearingly alive. Lane’s Irving is unwavering in his belief in his adored wife, and her Jackie is a smart, shrewd wisecracker, strong enough to allow herself to be vulnerable and trusting with her husband and friends--in particular, a chic, earthy and loyal actress, played with delicious panache by Stockard Channing; her Florence Maybelle is a descendant of Auntie Mame’s pal, Vera Charles.

Susann is also loud and gaudy, Pucci’d and Gucci’d to the max. The lesson of her life is that success makes you happy and helps you ward off life’s inevitable sorrows. Susann and Mansfield are absolute believers in the power of celebrity to make you even happier, so much so that when she enters the hospital for the last time, Mansfield comforts her by telling her that she’ll be in the very suite where “Elizabeth Taylor had her pneumonia”; surely, she was cheered by this. You are glad for Susann that she made it all the way to Aristotle Onassis’ yacht--with that other Jackie.

“Isn’t She Great” broadly and amusingly plays Susann against her first editor, Michael Hastings (David Hyde Pierce), an uptight, aristocratic WASP who is initially horrified by her manuscript, which was handed to him by her publisher (John Cleese), who would seem to have taken his flashy Nehru-jacketed style from one of those guys who wrote “Hair.” But inevitably he’s won over by her indomitable brashness and ability to connect with a wide range of people. (The film is based--”inspired” is more accurate--on a touching and amusing 1995 homage to Susann in the New Yorker by Michael Korda, her editor on her second novel, “The Love Machine”; some incidents concerning the fictional Hastings are drawn from Korda’s own experiences with Susann.)

What the filmmakers are doing is pitting exuberant Jewish nouveau riche vulgarity with anemic traditional WASP propriety and boring good taste. It can only be regarded as healthy and refreshing that in recent years movies have felt comfortable in acknowledging that Jews can be just as vulgar as anyone else; after all, they have also long been major arbiters of lowbrow show biz as well as high culture. In any event, it’s fun to hear Susann enter a Sardi’s-like restaurant with Mansfield and Hastings and tell the headwaiter that their party consists of “two adults and a Gentile.”

Naturally, “Valley of the Dolls” and “The Love Machine,” which were followed by “Once Is Not Enough,” got lots of bad reviews, and on TV we get a reprise of Truman Capote putting down Susann, adding famously that she “looks like a truck driver in drag.” If there is one thing to carp about “Isn’t She Great” it’s that it leaves out Susann’s equally famous comeback. When a talk-show host, possibly Johnny Carson, asked her what she thought about Truman, she unhesitatingly replied: “I think Truman will go down in history as one of our greatest presidents.” Susann deserved to have this riposte included in her own movie.

Not surprisingly, the filmmakers don’t stint on the visual aspects of their satire, with Julie Weiss’ costumes and production designer Stuart Wurtzel’s contributions almost as strong as those of Midler and Lane. Burt Bacharach is an inspired, period-perfect choice to compose the film’s score, which deftly echoes the music, and in particular, the theme song of the “Valley of the Dolls” movie. That clothes and decor are exaggerated contributes substantially to the myth of Susann that’s being projected--a myth that allows truths about her and her times to stand out in relief all the more.

When all is said and done, “Isn’t She Great” leaves you suspecting that it takes a lot of taste to depict vulgarity without either condescending or succumbing to it.

*MPAA rating: R, for language. Times guidelines: Some four-letter words are heard spoken occasionally in the course of the film, but it is not heavy on strong language.

‘Isn’t She Great’

Bette Midler: Jacqueline Susann

Nathan Lane: Irving Mansfield

Stockard Channing: Florence Maybelle

David Hyde Pierce: Michael Hastings

A Universal Pictures and Mutual Film Co. presentation of a Lobell/Bergman production. Director Andrew Bergman. Producer Mike Lobell. Executive producers Ted Kurdyla, Gary Levinsohn, Mark Gordon. Screenplay Paul Rudnick; based on an article by Michael Korda. Cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub. Editor Barry Malkin. Music Burt Bacharach. Production designer Stuart Wurtzel. Art director Raymond Dupuis. Key set decorator Frances Calder. Set decorators Susan Macquarrie, Amy Burt. Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.

In general release.