The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)

Romantic comedy-drama written and directed by Steve Kloves.

Two pianist brothers (real-life brothers Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges) hire a female singer named Susie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer) to pep up their act. This decision revives their fortunes but introduces complications when romantic feelings develop between Susie and one of the brothers.

It’s a well-written film with plenty of humour and intelligence.

White Oleander (2002)

Absolutely superb drama directed by Peter Kosminsky.

Michelle Pfeiffer is Ingrid Magnussen, who is sent to prison for murdering an unfaithful boyfriend. Her daughter Astrid (Alison Lohman) is sent to a series of foster homes, which lead to problems of their own, but Ingrid’s controlling ways continue to determine events. 

Adapted from Janet Fitch's 1999 novel, it’s a sad and often harrowing story about the damage adults do to children. Pfeiffer and Lohman are fantastic. In other roles, Robin Wright and Renée Zellweger are also excellent.

One odd casting decision is having Billy Connolly play the murdered boyfriend. He’s hardly in the film at all but he does stand out as an extremely unusual and somewhat jarring choice for that role.

The Story of Us (1999)

Extremely well written and ultimately touching comedy drama about a couple and their marriage. 

Ben and Katie (Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer) choose to separate when the children are away on summer camp. We see them working through the new relationship status, while looking back on the highs and lows of the marriage. 

Director Rob Reiner (who also stars as a family friend) wisely keeps the film simple and focused.

I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)

Witty romantic comedy directed and written by Amy “Clueless” Heckerling.

Rosie (Michelle Pfeiffer) is a TV scriptwriter. Adam (Paul Rudd) is an actor who comes to work on the show she writes. There’s a big age difference between them. 

There are some funny lines and there’s obviously a lot of intelligence in the Hollywood satire. Overall, though, it doesn’t quite work. The “magical” thread in which Tracey Ullman plays Mother Nature isn’t funny enough to work, and seems like a leftover from a different kind of story concept. Also, it sometimes seems too knowingly crammed full of industry in-jokes and references that aren't directed at the wider public. A cameo by Henry “Fonz” Winkler is thrown in with little effect.

It's visually distinctive, with super-bright, bleached-out lighting. It's notable, too, for the number of British actors, from Graham Norton to Sarah Alexander, and also for the inclusion of several songs on the soundtrack by The Cure.

One Fine Day (1996)

Rom-com about two single-parent New Yorkers. 

Journalist Jack (George Clooney) meets architect Melanie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and – across a hectic day involving career and childcare challenges – the pair have to put aside their differences and help each other. 

It’s nearly brilliant, but the script just isn’t sharp or funny enough. The two leads are both excellent, and there’s plenty of chemistry, but even with their considerable talents the dialogue cannot sparkle and the humour cannot hit home. For example, a thread about the couple accidentally switching mobile phones isn’t sufficiently mined for comic effect. A more skilled writer (such as Nora Ephron) would have done so much more with it. 

It’s a shame because Clooney and Pfeiffer exude charm and their performances are worthy of a better film than this.

What Lies Beneath (2000)

Claire Spencer (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her husband Norman (Harrison Ford) appear to have an ideal marriage and an ideal home. But the strain starts to show when Claire becomes convinced that their neighbour has murdered his wife. She also begins to observe spooky goings-on in her Vermont home, garden and lake. Norman encourages her to seek psychiatric help, but the weird events begin to escalate and it soon transpires that their marriage isn’t the fairytale story we might have imagined.

Director Robert Zemeckis does an excellent job with this Hitchcockian supernatural thriller. He’s masterful at storytelling (see Cast Away and the Back to the Future trilogy) and proves equally adept at building suspense. It’s genuinely frightening in places, not least because of the clever and claustrophobic way certain shots are framed.

The two leads are as good as ever, and Pfeiffer in particular builds a character you can easily believe in and relate to. There’s a major twist in the second half that changes everything, and both actors adapt their roles perfectly to make it work.

After an increasingly tense plot development, the pay off of the climax is extremely exciting. It’s real edge-of-the-seat stuff.

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

Directed by Stephen Frears, this is an adaptation of the 1985 play of the 1782 novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos set in pre-Revolution France. Glenn Close and John Malkovich play a pair of scheming socialites who use and abuse human relationships for their own sadistic ends, ultimately destroying the lives of everyone they meddle with.

The all-star cast includes Peter Capaldi, Michelle Pfeiffer, Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman, but for various reasons, the film simply doesn’t work. The entire plot hinges on John Malkovich’a character being so charming and irresistible that Close, Pfeiffer and Thurman all want to throw themselves at him. But instead of charming, he’s quite incredibly creepy – in fact, downright repulsive. He’s supposedly full of passion, but his seductions seem clinical – almost a technical matter he has to apply himself to.

Another problem is that Close and Malkovich are almost cartoonish in their pantomime-villain love of cruelty. Maybe that works in a French novel written hundreds of years ago, but it seems overwrought and silly when brought to the screen in this way.

Malkovich’s character blackmails and manipulates people into sleeping with him in a way that is aggressively predatory. Could it have been made in the “Me Too” era? Certainly, it’s particularly uncomfortable to watch in a post-Weinstein context.

On the plus side, Glenn Close acts well. She’s given little depth (we could have done with some wider context of who she is and how she got there), but she does “evil villain” as well as anyone. Indeed, some of her facial expressions and mannerisms are spot-on for a nasty piece of work barely able to contain her delight at ruining others. But ultimately Dangerous Liaisons feels one-dimensional and oddly uninvolving. Even the victims of the arch-manipulators (such as the wronged lover played by Michelle Pfeiffer, who I generally always like) are difficult to care about.

Grease 2 (1982)

“Grease is still the word,” claims the extremely lame slogan. Couldn’t they have come up with a new one?

Grease 2 is ridiculed as being a turkey, but if you approach it with low expectations and forget about the original masterpiece it’s actually a fairly enjoyable teen musical. It’s now 1961 and Rydell High School is opening for a new term. The T-Birds and the Pink Ladies are still the top gangs of boys and girls within the school caste system, albeit with entirely different members. English newcomer Michael (Maxwell Caulfield) falls for Samantha (Michelle Pfeiffer), but she tells him she’s only interested in cool biker types. To woo her, he then becomes one – keeping his true identity secret – and she doesn’t realise that the greaser hunk she’s attracted to is the same sensitive academic who helped her with her Hamlet essay...

There are lots of things wrong with this film. The chronology feels odd (the term flashes past within 90 minutes) and the script doesn’t sparkle. Musically and lyrically, the songs simply aren’t in the same league as those in the 1978 original and there’s a harshness and lack of warmth about them. One kicks off during a biology lesson, with the whole class singing about reproduction. Another takes place in a nuclear bunker, with the guy urging the girl he’s trying to seduce that they “do it for America”. In fact, there’s a lot about nuclear fears and John F. Kennedy – a political context that was absent but not missed last time around.

A handful of the actors from the first film reprise their roles. Didi Conn returns as Frenchy (but isn’t given a role), Eve Arden is once again Principal McGee, while Sid Caesar is still the sports coach, and so on. But it badly lacks the charisma of a John Travolta or a Stockard Channing. There simply isn’t anyone with real star quality.

For all its faults, there are plenty of plus points. Patricia Birch’s choreography is dynamic, as it was in the first film. The story is possibly more credible because it doesn’t end with a fairground ride taking off into space. There are some laughs. Michelle Pfeiffer is easy to like in the main role, even though she’s clearly no Olivia Newton-John. And trashy teen dramas full of youthful exuberance are always fun if you are in the mood. 

Frankie & Johnny (1991)

Intelligent, highly engaging romantic comedy-drama starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino. It’s adapted from a play (by Terrence McNally) and you can tell. The dialogue is strong and even the way the set has been designed has a simple theatrical logic that just works.

The two leads are hugely charismatic, but the supporting parts also seem integral – even though they weren’t in the original play.

The scenes in the New York cafe where F. and J. work are wonderful. You want to go there and sit drinking coffee all day while observing all the little details around you.

Subtle and nuanced, it’s sophisticated and moving without ever being obvious or choosing an easy, sentimental option.