The Mirror Has Two Faces ★★ 1996 (PG-13) Gregory (Bridges) is a hunky, but flustered, professor (hunky professor?) looking for romance without all that complicated sex, which shortly leads him to plain but soulful Rose (Streisand), the ugly duckling of her family. Rose's mother (Bacall) seems more happy with her much married sister (Rogers), who is headed down the aisle again with gorgeous Alex (Brosnan). Rose decides it's her turn, despite Gregory's protests, and she weds the bow-tied (and perhaps hog-tied?) educator anyway. When Gregory leaves her on a promotional book tour, frumpy Babs decides a big makeover is in order. Her newfound outer beauty, however, becomes the beast on the inside. Premise is marred by Streisand's unwillingness to look bad, and there's a too-subtle transformation between the "ugly" Rose and the updated version. Bacall gives a memorable, Oscar-nominated performance. Remake of 1959 French film. La Streisand added to her reputation for being a "difficult" perfectionist with her constant reshoots and personnel firings that extended the film's schedule. 127m/C VHS, DVD. Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges, Pierce Brosnan, Mimi Rogers, Lauren Bacall, Brenda Vaccaro, Austin Pendleton, George Segal, Elle Macpherson;
Director:
Barbra Streisand;
Writer:
Richard LaGravenese;
Writer:
Dante Spinotti, Andrzej Bartkowiak;
Cameo:
Barbra Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch. Golden Globes '97: Support. Actress (Bacall); Screen Actors Guild '96: Support. Actress (Bacall).
