This Is My Life

1992 "It's 10pm. Do you know where your mother is?"
6| 1h35m| R| en
Details

Single mom Dottie Ingels sells cosmetics in a department store, but she dreams of being a comedian. When she inherits some money, she takes the chance and moves with her two children Erica and Opel to New York to perform in small bars. Soon her agent Arnold Moss makes her famous, but while she travels all over USA, her children stay home lonely.

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Reviews

Linkshoch Wonderful Movie
AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks
Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
SnoopyStyle Single mom Dottie Ingels (Julie Kavner) sells cosmetics in a department store and dreams of being a big comedian on the Tonight Show. She lives in Queens with her two daughters Erica (Samantha Mathis) and Opal (Gaby Hoffmann) in Aunt Harriet's house. When Aunt Harriet died leaving everything to Dottie, she sells everything to move to NYC. She works her way in small bars. She gets Arnold Moss (Dan Aykroyd) as her agent or at least his assistant Claudia Curtis (Carrie Fisher). She starts traveling and the girls are left at home.The big problem is that I don't find Julie Kavner funny in this or that she has a funny act. This movie is desperate for somebody with standup experience. She needs an act that is actually funny. Samantha Mathis is playing an Annie Hall type as a teenager. The standup life seems so unrealistic. If I could ignore her standup, this could be a cute Nora Ephron movie especially considering that this is her directorial debut. It would be much better to concentrate on Erica's POV which has the possibility of skipping more of the mom's act.
edwagreen Julie Kavner of the "Rhoda" television show is just wonderful here. She is basically a Jewish Phyllis Diller who gains fame at the same time she neglects her daughters.This film is really a tribute to the women who became stand up comics years before.As we see in so many films, success has its disadvantages as well, as both young girls leave in a frenzy to seek out the father who abandoned them years before. After seeing him, they realize that a mother is still a mother.Carly Simon sings the background music throughout the film and she is an absolute treat to hear.
emily-gordon The gritty Meg Wolitzer novel Ephron's script is based on is far darker than the cinematic end result, but that doesn't keep this movie from being a sweet, subtle and empathetic (to _all_ its characters, even the potential caricature of a paper-gnawing agent played by Dan Aykroyd) story. It's also as much of a love letter to New York as Woody Allen's "Manhattan" or "Everyone Says I Love You." This isn't a typical Ephron movie the way "Sleepless in Seattle" or "You've Got Mail" are, whatever you might think of them; it's about the genuine trauma of adolescence, the complexities of trying to be a grownup when you're still figuring yourself out, and--transcending the cliche of "the tears of a clown"--the sadness that often lurks behind the most successful lives in comedy and the sacrifices comedians make to get there. The soundtrack by Carly Simon is an extra treat. Highly recommended.
Rosemea D.S. MacPherson This movie has a funny script by Nora and Delia Ephron, (You've Got Mail). Linda Obst (One Fine Day, Hope Floats) is the producer. The music is by Carly Simmon, which is great. Here we have all the ingredients for a good chick movie! Perhaps the lack of box office success it had was because of timing. It was released before Nora and Delia, and Obst were really known in the industry. If it was released today, it would get all the attention. It a really good movie.Dottie Ingels, Julie Kavner (Forget Paris, Jake's Women) is a single parent. She has two daughters, Erica Ingels, Samantha Mathis (Little Women, The American President) and Opal Ingels, Gaby Hoffmann (Sleepless in Seattle). They live with their Aunt Martha Ingels, Caroline Aaron (Deconstructing Harry ) until Martha dies and leaves them the house which they sell. Dottie can now pursue her dream of becoming a stand up comedian. Aunt Martha had died while she was shopping, she literally shopped until she dropped. No one could figure out which outfit was really hers and as the body went out of the store the alarm went off because the outfit still had the price tag on. Erica plays the critical teenager growing up with a somewhat realistic but by the same token negative view on things. Opal is the little one always trying to cheer things up. The kids are absolutely adorable. Their dialogue makes me laugh! They keep saying: did too, did not, did too, did not? Dottie wears those off-beat outfits, all polka dots. They are small at the beginning of the movie and their get bigger as she gets more famous. Favorite quotes:" Don't chew you hair, sweetheart". Life lesson: Everyone in the world is two phone calls from everyone else in the world you just need to know who the phone calls are." "Sometimes the audience was so dead that they were wearing toe tags." "Dad said that we were going to fidgety like mom...Opal says. Later Erica says it is not fidgety like mom. It is frigid. Opal: do you think that mom is cold in bed"? I recommend this fun movie. It is a feel good movie. I enjoyed watching it.