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SheDevil is dark comedy that fizzles Entertainment goes wrong the Vacation movies are broadly amusing jests and very popular The third in the series offers a mali cious twist on the first two The wolds are planning to spend a nice In Movie Theaters SHEDEVIL The career of director Susan continues to be a confounding one After getting off to a fresh inventive start with Desperately Seeking Susan she has made a string of halfbaked feminist confections Her latest Is this adapta tion of Fay Weldons novel The Life and Loves of a SheDevil FILMETER Seidelmans movies begin well with arresting casting and stylish con cepts but midway they inevitably fizzle Its as if she doesnt know how to follow through on her cleverness even when shes adapting material that has served others well Thats the case with social fable which formed the basis for a firstrate BBC miniseries shown here on The tale is about Ruth a dumpy obedient English housewife and moth er who seeks revenge when her abu sive husband leaves her for a sexy vacuous romance novelist The Brit ish version of SheDevil was faith ful to stinging darkly ironic viewpoint As the wronged wife as sumed lavish disguises and even en dured painful plastic surgery to ulti mately wreak havoc on her cheating husband and his mistress we could see to our amusement and horror that she was becoming a physical facsimi le of the romance novelist a gor geous doll whose Inner sensitivities had been consumed by hate SheDevil is clearly a broadside against a world that remains cruel and indifferent to women who arent stereotypically beautiful feminine and involved in glamorous careers In the book and the the story has an invigorating wrath Its furi ously didactic and deliciously nasty Seidelmans version is more commer cial safe and predictably feminist less a black comedy than a dark gray one Gone is the subplot about plastic surgery while the fate of the romance novelist has been sweetened The changes have much to do with Meryl and as respectively the romance novelist and Ruth Where the BBC version cen tered on Ruths character played amazingly by Julie Wallace this version centers more on the novelist And as the purring grandly demure Barbara Cartland figure Streep gives her first fullblown comic perfor mance on the screen and runs away with the movie Barr meanwhile does a variation on the whiny domestic GOOEY GOOD TRYOURNEW DELIVERY SERVICE 308 St Winston in llonal Ontario Glad Tidings Christmas is here along with our good wishes a happy healthy holiday Our sincere thanks to all the HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills GuolpK St Georgetown Since 8772201 GEORGETOWN CINEMAS 235 GUELPH STREET 8731999 CLARK GRISWOLD Chevy Chase tries to create the perfect Christmas expe rience for his family when his country cousin Eddie Randy Quaid shows up in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation goddess she plays on TV and in her standup act She has her moments but one feels that the movie is pro tecting inexperience as an ac tress only giving her scenes she can handle A lot of her dialogue is done as a voiceover The other principal performers Ed Begley Jr Sylvia Miles and Linda Hunt contribute some fun but ev eryone is stuck in a movie that settles for easy japes and trendy burlesquing And the twisted point of the material is straightened out Ruth really does triumph in her revenge where Wel dons antiheroine only scores a Pyr rhic victory at best GRADE NATIONAL LAMPOONS CHRISTMAS VACATION PG13 The National Lampoon Vacation comedies are dedicated to anyone who has ever embarked on a much- needed trip and then as the calami ties piled up found himself wishing he had stayed securely at home Starring Chevy Chase and Beverly as Clark and Ellen Griswold a wellmeaning suburban couple with two kids for whom everything DAILY LUNCH SPECIALS For Under Across From GO Station 37 King St Georgetown 8773541 hTh TAXI Mil ST GEORGETOWN DIVISION OF HOLDING I AIRPORT SERVICE ARCEllMUViRY lllllllllllllllll VIDEO RANCH BETA NINTENDO VHS CHOOsemoM toon of rmsst CHRISTMAS SPECIAL movies for DEC v TOTUESDAY X MACHINE RENTALS VCRNIWTEN 8730700 CAMCORDER VCR MOOPMK Christmas at home In corny Currier and Ives fashion when all of the fam ily relatives some familiar from the other movies show up for the holidays Soon two sets of inlaws a flaky aunt and uncle Mae and William Hickey and Ellens hillbilly cousin Randy Quaid have filled Clark and his brood with far more ill will than good cheer Meanwhile Clark is having quite a time getting Christmas bulbs that festoon the outside of the house to light up at the same moment Electrocution may come before illumination GRADE