Review of Too Much, Too Soon

"Too Much, Too Soon" is about the very screwed up life of Diana Barrymore--daughter of the equally screwed up John Barrymore. It's a train wreck of a story on several levels. Errol Flynn plays John Barrymore--a man who was in many ways exactly like him. Both were hard-core alcoholics and womanizers and both died young--with Flynn dying soon after completing this film. It's uncomfortable seeing Flynn basically playing himself and seeing him, too, ravaged by his hard life. On another level, it's also very, very uncomfortable to watch, as this film chronicles the life of a woman who killed herself shortly after the film debuted! In other words, she pours out herself here on the screen through her memoirs (which were the basis of the screenplay)...and you know that in the end, she must still die at age 38--a pathetic, emaciated addict. Sad, very, very sad. According to the movie, it would appear that all this would come as a result of unresolved daddy issues and her downward spiral in the film is certainly sad and soap opera-like. Because of this soapy quality, the film is certainly interesting....but also hard to watch since it's mostly true. I say mostly because the real-life Diana Barrymore actually sunk a lot lower than Dorothy Malone did playing her in this somewhat sanitized film. And, instead of the happy ending you see in the film, it was only a brief respite until the end.

I must give the film a few points for being interesting. It loses a few for being sanitized and it loses a point for being anachronistic. What I mean by that is that the filmmakers didn't even try to make the clothes and hair look appropriate to the time period. So, 1941 looks just like 1955 or 58. A bit sloppy--though I suspect it might also be because the studio didn't see this as a prestige picture. And, I'll give the film a point for the nice looking skin-head wig near the end--too often these are obvious and poorly done, while this one isn't. Worth seeing but pathetic.