The New Yorker
Review: Bette Midler In Big Business By Pauline Kael
By Pauline Kael
August 24, 2026
Pauline Kael recalls laughing at Harry Ritz as a hillbilly in Kentucky Moonshine, which made her fall from theatre seat. I might have fallen off my seat again when Bette Midler appeared as a hillbilly girl milking a cow. Later, after she comes to New York City, she meets a steel-drum band near Fifth Avenue and yodels again. Again, the moviemakers cut to a trivial story point. Midler is far more free and inspired here than she was in Outrageous Fortune or Ruthless People.
Bette Midler breezes through, kicking one gong after another. Tomlin’s two Roses have virtuous impulses, while Midler—as both Sadies— is pure appetite. Sadie Ratliff is most recognizably human of comic creations; she watches Dynasty, dreams of Alexis, and looks into Cartier’s windows.
“Bette Midler rescues scenes by using her clothes as props. When Sadie, the mogul of Moramax, flips up her collar, the gesture shows self-satisfaction. Chaplin did this sort of thing, and he didn’t do it better. Her snooty asides are terrific. This gorgon keeps her best lines to herself. The film often looks third class, and the plot conks out. Its climax is a visual brain-twister. She is a classic figure—a grinning urchin out of Volpone. Her appetite is the audience’s appetite. It’s as if she and we were passing a flask of euphoria back and forth. More!”
Pauline Kael
The New Yorker, June 27, 1988
Hooked, pp 483-485
