VIDEO REVIEWS

Fiona Sturges
Friday 11 June 1999 18:02 EDT
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Don't Go Breaking My Heart (PG) Polygram, rental HH

This well-intentioned romantic comedy from Willi Patterson sees Jenny Seagrove cast as a Hampstead widow with a group of friends intent on finding her a new husband. Meanwhile, her dentist (Charles Dance) is trying to make her fall in love with him through hypnosis, but his plans go awry as she meets a kindly sports therapist (ER's Anthony Edwards) who is coaching her son for his school sports day. There are pleasures to be had watching Charles Dance playing the slimeball and Edwards provides a warm presence, but the picture eventually loses itself in a sea of schmaltz.

The Slums of Beverly Hills (15) Fox Pathe, rental HHHH

Tamara Jenkins' writing-directing debut is this consummate coming- of-age drama. Set in the 1970s, it focuses on a suburban teenager (Natasha Lyonne) growing up on the wrong side of the tracks and acquainting herself with sex, bras and unwanted facial hair. Jenkins wallows in the horror of 1970s interiors as well as the trials of suburban living. Despite the fact that the script isn't up to much, Lyonne's performance succeeds. One minute she battles with the agony of adolescence, the next she is delivering withering one-liners with the force of flying grit. A delight.

Six Days, Seven Nights (12) Buena Vista, retail HH

Harrison Ford gets to roll around in the sand with a woman half his age in this romantic comedy. After an emergency landing on a remote island, Anne Heche's drippy magazine editor finds herself marooned with Ford's grizzled pilot. After the inevitable bitching comes the preposterous flirting. As Heche gads about in an array of flimsy outfits, Ford challenges his nubile plaything to guess his age. When she suggests 50 he smiles and whispers the real figure. "You still look good," she says. "I still am good," comes the reply. It's like watching an aged dad hit on his daughter's school chum.

GI Jane (15) Columbia, retail H

At the behest of a female politician looking to prove a point, Demi Moore endeavours to thrust feminism into the 1990s by matching the brutality of her oppressors and joining the Navy Seals. She ignores remarks about her menstrual cycle, remains unflinching when a male commander conducts a meeting in the shower, does push-ups, pull-ups and a variety of gruelling assault courses and defiantly shaves her head. Reaching a pinnacle of feminist consciousness, she even invites her senior officer to "Suck my dick!", winning admiration from her fellow soldiers. God help us if this is Hollywood getting politically correct.

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