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Bette Midler dies in Yugo drowning - foul play suspected

By Jessica Wolf

State Press Magazine

drowning mona **** (of 5) starring danny devito, jamie lee curtis, bette midler, neve campbell and casey affleck; directed by nick gomez opens friday

Welcome to Verplanck, New York. Just a short drive from Manhattan, but lifestyle-wise, it's a million miles away.

It's a town where the women proudly invest in bad dye jobs, where sexual encounters are punctuated by a rousing round of the board-game version of Wheel of Fortune.

Where everyone knows each other's business and where the town mortician takes naughty pictures of scantily-clad women in between embalmings.

It is a town where just about everyone drives a Yugo sporting a personalized license plate. And that's where Mona Dearly enters, or exits actually, as she plummets off the side of a cliff into the Hudson river while driving her son's bright yellow one, and trapped inside -- drowns.

It doesn't take long for Police Chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito) to conclude that this was no accident. Yes, the car's breaks were tampered with.

The problem comes into play when Rash must begin an investigation. The list of people who are thrilled at Mona Dearly's untimely demise is only slightly longer than the list of people who might have actually carried out the heinous act.

We see Mona, played superbly by Bette Midler, only through flashbacks in the memories of her fellow townfolk and family members. At her best she could be described as pathetic and unkind -- but a more accurate and consistent term for the woman would be vicious.

The movie's plot, while on the surface may be about uncovering the mystery of exactly who brought about this woman's death, is by no means what makes the film.

Drowning Mona is a character-driven look at a small town crime and the small town mentality that motivates the investigation, without getting trite, in-depth or overbearing. It's like taking a magnifying glass to the area surrounding an ant hill for a few moments. There's more going on there than meets the naked eye and sure it's somewhat intriguing...but it's not a place you'd want to stand in for an extended period of time.

The movie is absolutely hilarious. Perfectly-timed one liners and unexpected comments from a well-rounded ensemble cast portraying interesting, slightly-off characters make this film a sheer joy to watch.

Even the perpetually trendy Neve Campbell turns out a great performance as Rash's overdyed, self-involved daughter Ellen. She even comes close to pulling off a grating, New York accent.

Casey Affleck plays Ellen's husband-to-be, and as it happens, her father's prime suspect in the murder of Mona Dearly. Bobby Calzone (Affleck) is part-owner of a struggling landscape business (one of many in the small town.) His partner Jeff (Marcus Thomas) is Mona Dearly's beer-swilling son who seems to have inherited most, if not all his mother's notoriously bad qualities.

A local pastime is sitting around the Palace Diner speculating about how the young man lost his hand...most scenarios revolve around Jeff reaching for a beer with disastrous results (and as the movie progresses we find that these theories hold more truth than even the gossips may realize).

The one-handed, lazy Jeff has become the bane of Bobby's existence as he must now single-handedly (no pun intended) try to keep the business afloat. A soft-spoken, gentle kid, Bobby is constantly harassed by the Dearly's almost to the point where he is pushed beyond his limits.

Affleck effectively plays up his boyish charm and good looks for this role. Actually all of the actors in the ensemble cast seem to really enjoy the little sliver they add to this movie. An uncharacteristically haggard-looking Jamie Lee Curtis is terrific as the career diner-waitress who has been meeting Mona Dearly's husband Phil (William Fitchner) on the sly at a pay-by-the-hour hotel/cabin.

DeVito is perfect as the chief investigator and town peacemaker. He's not exactly a bumbling small-town cop, but he is clearly a man un-used to murder investigations in his small community.

Drowning Mona is a thoroughly enjoyable, well-cast movie. If you're in the mood for a comedy this weekend, this one's worth your six bucks.

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