Dying Young
Read other reviews about this film
Julia Roberts
Campbell Scott
Vincent D'Onofrio
Colleen Dewhurst
David Selby
Ellen Burstyn
Campbell Scott (The Sheltering Sky) plays Victor Geddes, an immensely wealthy young man who at 28 has been battling leukemia for 10 years. He places an ad for an attractive young lady to nurse him through the bouts of violent illness that accompany chemotherapy.
Enter Roberts as Hilary O'Neil, who in the interest of dramatic contrast is painted as a badly dressed, uneducated street-smart type from blue-collar Oakland. For the lonely, intellectual Victor, she's raw material to be shaped in his image - an irresistible draw.
Director Joel Schumacher (Flatliners) apparently doubting an audience will stick around just out of concern for Victor's illness, turns a rather shabbily exploitative camera on Roberts, whose legs seem to play the lead role in the first act. Much of the time pic operates on the level of a teaser sustained by the dangling question of Victor's unconsummated desire.
Roberts displays the usual combo of flintily self-sufficient and winningly vulnerable traits. Her portrayal of a working-class character is not exactly chameleon-like. Scott puts in a beguiling and technically polished turn as the desperately lonely sufferer.
Pic [from Marti Leimbach's novel] plays like a sentiment-soaked escapist fantasy for the bed-and-breakfast set.
(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1991. Running time: 105 MIN.
Variety is striving to present the most thorough review database. To report inaccuracies in review credits, please click here. We do not currently list below-the-line credits, although we hope to include them in the future. Please note we may not respond to every suggestion. Your assistance is appreciated.
