"Ready to Wear" was Robert Altman's disappointing successor to 1992's "The Player". This time, Altman targets a prestigious fashion show in Paris, with the message that everyone involved in the fashion industry is shallow, conceited and eccentric. Even assuming that this sweeping stereotype is correct, it is insufficient grounds for a film that is over two hours long.

Another problem with "Ready to Wear" is the ensemble cast. There are so many characters that it is difficult to remember who is what, much less identify with any of them. Much of the comedy also falls flat: a recurring gag is a man stepping in dog-doo, something that one would more expect from a Leslie Nielsen vehicle.

While "Ready to Wear" fails as a comedy, it is not a complete waste of celluloid. There is the parade of naked supermodels at the film's end (in this case, forgetting to rewind the video is doing the next renter a favor). There is a vaguely amusing subplot involving Tim Robbins and Julia Roberts as strangers 'forced' to share the same hotel room (with predictable results: poor Lyle Lovett, who has a bit part and looks lost). Despite a lack of structure and an absence of plot, the film is only occasionally truly boring.

Other subplots have Sally Kellerman, Linda Hunt and Tracey Ullman playing fashion magazine publishers, each of whom are desperately trying to hire photographer Stephen Rea, who for some reason is more interested in taking embarrassing photographs of them. Sophia Loren is romanced by Marcello Mastroianni (the scene where she strips is a parody of their corresponding scene in 1964's "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow") and has a husband who gets murdered. And the cast goes on and on: there's four gay fashion designers who cheat on each other, Kim Basinger is a witless reporter, Danny Aiello is a cross dresser, Lauren Bacall and Teri Garr show up for no discernable reason, lotsa others whom I don't recognize, and a dozen or so disinterested fashion models.

Skip this one and rent Altman's 1970 film M*A*S*H instead. (52/100)



Recommended: No