Oct 2004 - Diller's a dilly
SUN-SENTINEL (South Florida) - FT. LAUDERDALE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Goodnight, We Love You -- 92 min. Not rated: Language, adult themes.
Is it bad to admit that you were certain comedienne Phyllis Diller was dead? Perhaps, but, well, she's sure hung on a long time. Goodnight, We Love You chronicles Diller's final performance two years ago, at the age of 84. True, she looks young for her age, but she also devotes quite a bit of time in her farewell act to joking about all the plastic surgery she's had.
Diller remains alive and well, however, and she certainly seems spry as ever in Gregg Barson's documentary. He neatly intersperses moments from her final performance in Las Vegas with candid interviews with Diller and the people she's worked with -- everyone from contemporaries like Don Rickles to "the Dustbiters," the club of women who have worked at one time or another as her travel secretary, going back to the early 1960s.
You don't necessarily have to be a fan of Diller's to enjoy Goodnight, We Love You, although the movie will likely prove most enjoyable to those who are. However, there's still some fun to be had even for those of us who might not have realized that "the Madonna of the Geritol set," as she's introduced before her performance, was even still living.
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