New York Post
Liz Smith
02-08-2006
SHE’S BACK! Down-home, yet she’s deluxe. That was the Divine Miss M, Bette Midler herself, at Pax Wholesale Foods leaving with a little lunch in hand. She slipped into a chauffeured Mercedes and was spirited away.
The Fox Movie network has recently been running Bette’s first film, “The Rose.” This story, loosely based on the life and death of Janis Joplin, offers typical troubled-singer-bio-pic clichés with a paper-thin script. But Bette is beyond brilliant, and nothing else matters except her presence. She was Oscar-nominated. Catch this one if you can. Her phone booth scene alone – Rose’s call to her parents and that final heroin fix – make up five of the most devastating minutes ever.
