The 24 Hour Woman

Last updated

The 24 Hour Woman
24 Hour Woman.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Nancy Savoca
Written byNancy Savoca
Richard Guay
Produced by Larry Meistrich
Starring
Cinematography Teresa Medina
Edited byCamilla Toniolo
Production
company
Distributed by Artisan Entertainment
Release dates
  • January 22, 1999 (1999-01-22)(Sundance) [1]
  • January 29, 1999 (1999-01-29)(United States)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$109,535 (US) [2]

The 24 Hour Woman is a 1999 comedy film directed and co-written by Nancy Savoca. It stars Rosie Perez, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Patti LuPone, Karen Duffy, Diego Serrano, and Wendell Pierce. The film is about a woman who struggles to be both a successful television producer and a new mother. The film premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and had a limited theatrical release on January 29, 1999.

Contents

Plot

Grace Santos is a producer for a New York City daytime talk show called The 24 Hour Woman. She is expecting a baby with her husband, Eddie, the show's co-host. When her pregnancy is leaked to Eddie on air, Grace's boss Joan turns it into the subject of the talk show in order to drum up ratings. Madeline, a mother of three who is married to Roy, interviews for a job at the show, seeking a return to work after time away raising her family. Although she is overqualified for the position, Grace hires her as her assistant when Madeline says she is eager to start anywhere. The unemployed Roy becomes a stay-at-home dad, which he has some difficulties adjusting to and is shamed by his peers for.

The show ratings become successful and help the show move from cable to a network. After Grace gives birth to baby Lily, she finds it difficult to juggle new motherhood and the demands of her job. Eddie struggles to share parenting duties and is often away filming movies for his burgeoning acting career. Joan has Grace return to work immediately. The couple hires a nanny, Cheryl, but Grace misses Lily when she is at work.

On Lily's first birthday, Eddie is in Los Angeles filming an action movie, so his mother and mother-in-law are helping with party festivities. At work, Grace is tasked with securing an interview with author Dr. Suzanne Pincus, but hopes to make it home in time for the party. However, she has difficulty talking with Suzanne's publicist on the phone, so she is forced to go to Suzanne's book signing to speak to her in person and convince her to come on the show. After securing the interview, Grace has to buy a present for Lily at Herald Square. As the store is sold out of the toy that Grace needs, she buys the one on display for $300 and tries to rush home during the Christmas holiday traffic. When her subway fare is rejected, she tries to sneak under the turnstile, prompting an argument with a police officer that culminates in her arrest. She manages to come home, but has already missed the party. Grace's mother and mother-in-law play video from the party, and Grace feels ashamed that she missed her daughter taking her first steps. The following day, Grace tries to recreate footage from the birthday on video to make it appear as if she made it home in time.

Grace finds herself wanting to spend more time with Lily than going to work. When Eddie finds out that she relieved Cheryl, they have a big argument about her work load, Eddie's job, and the division of parenting duties. Grace decides to quit her job and goes to the office, where everyone is dressed in drag as part of a Sex Switcheroo-themed day. She goes to Joan to say she's quitting, and Joan is unsympathetic towards Grace's situation. Grace accuses Joan of devaluing her work on the show and storms out. While trying to clean out her office, Grace sees Eddie talking on air about Lily and lying about what a supportive father he's been, which infuriates her. She finds a Luger that was left in her drawer from a news segment and angrily confronts Eddie with it live on air. Eddie manages to calm Grace down and she puts the gun down, just as police burst in and arrest her.

As Grace is led away by police, she tells Eddie "I wish I never met you." Meanwhile, the incident has become a media sensation. Later, Eddie goes to Grace's apartment and apologizes for not being more helpful. Grace says she didn't mean what she said about meeting him because their relationship gave her a lot of nice things, including Lily. As Eddie babysits Lily one day, Grace goes to pitch a new talk show that will be about the "little everyday stuff that drives us crazy." An executive jokingly suggests to "give her a shot" and her pitch is accepted. Grace boards a taxi and is joined by Madeline, who will be joining her new show.

Cast

Release

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 1999. On January 29 a week later, it was the opening feature for the series "The Feminine Eye: Twenty Years of Women's Cinema" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The series included films such as Sally Potter's Orlando, Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust , Euzhan Palcy's Sugar Cane Alley , Jane Campion's Sweetie , Claire Denis's Chocolat , Agnieszka Holland's Angry Harvest , and Barbara Kopple's American Dream . [1]

Critical reception

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times enjoyed the film, awarding it 3 out of 4 stars. He wrote, "The 24 Hour Woman is a message picture wrapped inside a screwball comedy, with a touch of satire aimed at TV talk shows. It doesn't all work, but it happens so fast we don't get stuck in the awkward parts. Rosie Perez's Grace is the engine that pulls the story, with so much energy she seems to vibrate. Some will see her character as exaggerated. Not me. She's half Brooklynite-half TV producer, and from what I've seen of both species, hyperactivity is built in." [3]

Marjorie Baumgarten of The Austin Chronicle also gave a mostly positive review. She wrote, "Too much of The 24 Hour Woman is constructed in [a] paradigmatic manner; too often it smacks of having points to make rather than the urgency of a story to tell. Yet observations of such things as Grace hooked up to a breast pump or a woman's comment that she enjoyed work because at least 'no one threw food around' lend the film a reality that's hard to mistake." [4] Though she said the film "is too obvious and too inconclusive to be considered Savoca's best work…[it] goes places that few movies even dare to reach". [4]

The Film Journal 's Kevin Lally wrote "The 24 Hour Woman is a movie of modest ambitions, but it does reflect a very real dilemma in this era where worth, for both sexes, is often measured by career achievement. Savoca and producer husband Richard Guay's script never strays from the theme of job vs. children, so it feels more like a high-concept sitcom than a movie. Fortunately, it has something special in Rosie Perez, who brings a terrific raw energy to the assignment and has never been more appealing." [5] Merle Bertrand wrote in Film Threat that "Perez, equal parts spitfire and cuddly kitten, is dynamite as Grace while the soothing, almost motherly Jean-Baptiste is her perfect foil." [6]

The film's satirization of daytime TV and talk shows was lauded by Ebert, Lally, and Dennis Harvey of Variety, [7] though critics also said the film times veers too much into a sitcom-like tone. [8] [7] Janet Maslin of The New York Times said, "What's best about The 24-Hour Woman is its refusal, most of the time, to buy into Hollywood's usual happily-ever-after solutions to this very contemporary dilemma", and "to the film's credit it has no easy answers about such mixed feeling [on parenthood]". [1] However, she criticized the ending as too neatly resolved and said the film's "use of supporting characters as straw men and women also robs the story of life". [1] She concluded, "In leaping from the real world to an idealized one, The 24-Hour Woman loses track of its most important thought about mixing work and parenthood. It's not this easy." [1]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The 24 Hour Woman has an approval score of 50% based on 16 critics' reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. [9]

Accolades

At the 2000 ALMA Awards, Rosie Perez was nominated for Outstanding Film Actress and Nancy Savoca was nominated for Outstanding Film Director. [10] At the 2000 Black Reel Awards, Perez was nominated for Best Actress in a Film. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosie O'Donnell</span> American comedian and actress (born 1962)

Roseann O'Donnell is an American comedian, television producer, actress, author, and television personality. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series Star Search in 1984. After a series of television and film roles that introduced her to a larger national audience, O'Donnell hosted her own syndicated daytime talk show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, between 1996 and 2002, which won several Daytime Emmy Awards. During this period, she developed the nickname "Queen of Nice", as well as a reputation for philanthropic efforts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lily Tomlin</span> American actress (born 1939)

Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. Tomlin started her career in stand-up comedy and sketch comedy before transitioning her career to acting across stage and screen. In a career spanning over fifty years, Tomlin has received numerous accolades, including seven Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, two Tony Awards, and a nomination for an Academy Award. She was also awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Rivers</span> American entertainer (1933–2014)

Joan Alexandra Molinsky, known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer, and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona that was heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians, delivered in her signature New York accent. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy. She received an Emmy Award and a Grammy Award, as well as nomination for a Tony Award.

<i>Bye Bye Birdie</i> 1960 musical

Bye Bye Birdie is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberta Watson</span> Canadian actress (1955–2015)

Faith Susan Alberta Watson, better known as Alberta Watson, was a Canadian film and television actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lili Taylor</span> American actress (born 1967)

Lili Anne Taylor is an American actress. She came to prominence with supporting parts in the films Mystic Pizza (1988) and Say Anything... (1989), before establishing herself as one of the key figures of 1990s independent cinema through starring roles in Bright Angel (1990), Dogfight (1991), Household Saints, Short Cuts, The Addiction (1995), I Shot Andy Warhol, Girls Town, Pecker (1998), and A Slipping-Down Life (1999). Taylor is the recipient of four Independent Spirit nominations, winning once in the category of Best Supporting Female. Her other accolades include one Golden Globe Award and nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards.

<i>Dogfight</i> (film) 1991 film directed by Nancy Savoca

Dogfight is a 1991 period coming-of-age drama film set in San Francisco, California, during the 1960s and directed by Nancy Savoca. The film explores the love between an 18-year-old Marine, Lance Corporal Eddie Birdlace, on his way to Vietnam, and a young woman, Rose Fenny.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeline Zima</span> American actress (born 1985)

Madeline Zima is an American actress. She portrayed Grace Sheffield on the CBS sitcom The Nanny (1993–1999), Mia Lewis on the Showtime comedy drama series Californication (2007–2011), and Gretchen Berg on the NBC series Heroes (2009–2010).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosie Perez</span> American actress (born 1964)

Rosa Maria Perez is an American actress. Her breakthrough came at age 24 with her portrayal of Tina in the film Do the Right Thing (1989), followed by White Men Can't Jump (1992). Perez's performance in Fearless (1993) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, among other accolades. Her starring film roles since include It Could Happen to You (1994), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Pineapple Express (2008), and Birds of Prey (2020).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sally Webster</span> Fictional character from Coronation Street

Sally Metcalfe is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, portrayed by Sally Dynevor. The character first appeared on-screen during the episode airing on 27 January 1986, when Kevin Webster drove past her in his van and accidentally splashed her while she was waiting for a bus. Her notable storylines have seen her have an on-and-off relationship and marriage with Kevin, becoming the victim of domestic violence by Greg Kelly and her attempts to become the pillar of the community and annoy Janice Battersby in the process. During her time on the soap, she has also tried to impress her bosses Bet Lynch, Alf Roberts, Mike Baldwin, Paul Connor and Carla Connor and gain promotions. In 2009, Sally was diagnosed with Breast cancer; whilst portraying the storyline, Dynevor herself found out that she also had breast cancer, and claimed that the storyline had potentially saved her life. Following a second divorce from Kevin, the character embarks on a relationship with Tim Metcalfe and goes on to marry him, survives a minibus crash, begins a political career on the local council and later progresses to become the Mayor, becomes the victim of an internet troll, is wrongfully imprisoned for fraud and is injured when the roof collapses at the factory.

<i>I Wanna Hold Your Hand</i> (film) 1978 film by Robert Zemeckis

I Wanna Hold Your Hand is a 1978 American historical comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and starring Nancy Allen, Bobby Di Cicco, Marc McClure, Susan Kendall Newman, Theresa Saldana, Eddie Deezen, and Wendie Jo Sperber. Its storyline follows a disparate group of teenagers over the course of one day in New York City as they attempt to gain entry to the Beatles' first live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. The film also examines the mass hysteria surrounding the event, dubbed "Beatlemania" for the fervency of the group's fans. The film's title is derived from the Beatles' 1963 song of the same name.

Diego Serrano is an Ecuadorian actor.

<i>Something to Talk About</i> (film) 1995 American film

Something to Talk About is a 1995 American comedy-drama film directed by Lasse Hallström, from a screenplay written by Callie Khouri. It stars Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid as an estranged couple, Kyra Sedgwick as Roberts' sister, and Robert Duvall and Gena Rowlands as their parents.

<i>Strange Interlude</i> 1920s play by Eugene ONeill

Strange Interlude is an experimental play in nine acts by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. It won the 1928 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Strange Interlude is one of the few modern plays to make extensive use of a soliloquy technique, in which the characters speak their inner thoughts to the audience.

<i>A Carol Christmas</i> 2003 television film

A Carol Christmas is a TV movie starring Tori Spelling, Dinah Manoff, William Shatner, Jason Brooks and Gary Coleman. It premiered on the Hallmark Channel in 2003. The film is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol.

Nancy Laura Savoca is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.

Rosie Shuster is a Canadian-born comedy writer and actress. She was a writer for Saturday Night Live during the 1970s and 1980s.

<i>We Bought a Zoo</i> 2011 film by Cameron Crowe

We Bought a Zoo is a 2011 American biographical comedy drama film loosely based on the 2008 memoir of the same name by Benjamin Mee. It was co-written and directed by Cameron Crowe and stars Matt Damon as widowed father Benjamin Mee, who purchases a dilapidated zoo with his family and takes on the challenge of preparing the zoo for its reopening to the public. The film also stars Scarlett Johansson, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Thomas Haden Church, Patrick Fugit, Elle Fanning, Colin Ford, and John Michael Higgins. The film is based on the Dartmoor Zoological Park, which is a 33-acre zoological garden located near the village of Sparkwell, Devon, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Film Honors</span> Annual awards honoring women in entertainment

The Women in Film Honors —first presented in 1977 by the now–Los Angeles chapter of the Women in Film organization—are presented to honor women in communications and media. The awards include the Crystal Award, the Lucy Award, the Dorothy Arzner Directors Award, the MaxMara Face of the Future Award, and the Kodak Vision Award.

<i>The Last Thing He Wanted</i> (film) 2020 film

The Last Thing He Wanted is a 2020 political thriller film directed by Dee Rees, based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Joan Didion, from a screenplay by Rees and Marco Villalobos. The film stars Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Rosie Perez, Edi Gathegi, Mel Rodriguez, Toby Jones, and Willem Dafoe.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Maslin, Janet (January 29, 1999). "FILM REVIEW; Women's Work: 9 to 5 In Daydreams Only". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ "The 24 Hour Woman". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  3. ↑ Ebert, Roger (February 19, 1999). "The 24 Hour Woman". rogerebert.com. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  4. 1 2 Baumgarten, Marjorie (February 26, 1999). "Movie Review: The 24 Hour Woman". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  5. ↑ Lally, Kevin (November 2, 2004). "The 24 Hour Woman". Film Journal. Archived from the original on December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  6. ↑ Bertrand, Merle (June 25, 2000). "The 24 Hour Woman". Film Threat. Archived from the original on August 31, 2002. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  7. 1 2 Harvey, Dennis (January 25, 1999). "The 24 Hour Woman". Variety. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  8. ↑ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (February 5, 1999). "The 24 Hour Woman". EW.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  9. ↑ "The 24 Hour Woman". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  10. ↑ "2000 ALMA Awards Nominees". ALMA Awards. Archived from the original on October 19, 2002. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Past Winners & Nominees". Black Reel Awards. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.