Laura Lansing Slept Here (Telefilm)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: D Telefilm: C-
There was a time when big movie stars came to TV, it was
an event and the material was usually interesting, even if it was a guest skint
on one of Lucille Ball’s shows. By the
1980s, that assurance started to wear off and the usually capable director
George Schaeffer convinced Katharine Hepburn to do Laura Lansing Slept Here
(1988) in a misfire that is surreal versus Miss Hepburn’s high quality career.
The story has the author Lansing accepting a bet she
cannot stay with a boring middle class family for a while without leaving. Her new novel is in trouble and she does not
believe it, so she does this as a distraction.
Unfortunately, it is a bratty 1980s TV family and melodrama ensues,
combined with dumb comedy that makes this feel like Hepburn is in a
sitcom. The family is crass and shrill,
badly written and with little chance for the actors to overcome the script. Remarkably, Lansing does not go on a killing
spree. This is the nadir of Hepburn on
TV and is best skipped.
The 1.33 x 1 image looks like it is from professional
videotape and who knows how this was shot, but it is soft and the color is not
that great. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
is passable, but that bad music does not help and is a annoying as the
family. There are no extras, but we are
all better off.
- Nicholas Sheffo
