The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag
The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag
PG-13 | 21 August 1992 (USA)
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A Southern librarian puts excitement in her life with a found murder weapon and a false confession.

Reviews
Plantiana

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Softwing

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Kailansorac

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

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TrueHello

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

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Amy Adler

Betty Lou (Penelope Ann Miller) is a librarian who suffers from the doormat syndrome - people walk all over her. At home, it is not much better, as policeman husband Alex works late. When he fails to come home for their anniversary dinner, Betty Lou snaps out of her complacency. Finding a gun connected to a homicide, she devices a scheme to make herself visible....she'll confess to the murder of a mafioso. It works. She is the most talked about person in town, with one problem. The mafia may be chasing her now.Penelope Ann Miller is one of those actresses you like to look & listen to, no matter what the part. She does a fine job as the long suffering wife and librarian. Eric Thal displays charm as Alex and Julianne Moore as Betty Lou's sister, in a role that obviously came before her leap into stardom, is a welcome addition. The plot is fun at first but things get deadly serious and violent near the ending. Do you like silly romantic plots, even when a little nastiness is thrown in? This movie will satisfy your basic requirements.

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Rhea

I saw this movie on TV and I have to admit.. I loved it! I was planning to go to sleep but once this movie came on I watched it all the way through! Although not exactly an Oscar winner, it had a charm all it's own. I think the cast was what made it, I loved Betty Lou and especially Eric Thal as Alex! They had great chemistry and were really cute together! This is a fun cute movie definitely NOT to be taken seriously, but just to sit back and enjoy! It still has a little bit of 80's fun to it.. I think in the 80's a lot of movies were made that would NEVER be made now, but now they are so fun to watch! This had a little bit of that. I dunno, I just loved it!

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chinaskee

At first I thought Penelope Ann Miller was going to be able to carry this film.You could see those wheels in her head churning when she figured out she'd be able to get her husband's attention if she confessed to a murder,and she had me laughing quite a few times.But about half-way through,it started to give me a headache and I had to turn it off.Something about that red dress she wore in the courtroom and the following scene at an airport with some really loud music had an adverse effect on me and I couldn't bear any more of it.

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tex-42

Someone must have had a lot of money to burn. That is the only reason I can think that this movie was made. The plot concerns waifish Betty Lou (Miller) who finds a murder weapon and confesses to the crime simply because she feels ignored and under appreciated by everyone. This apparently is a way for her to gain self-confidence and become a celebrity in her small town. This also lands her in a lot of trouble with some Mafia thugs who believe that she is hiding a tape she took from the deceased after she killed him that could get them in trouble. The outcome is quite predictable. This movie overlooks logic and the fact that Betty Lou needs some serious psychiatric help and tries to tell us that confessing to crimes we didn't commit is a way to gain acceptance. And the most serious flaw is that Miller cannot hold the movie together by herself, the supporting characters are given little to do except stand there and wait for their cues. Just a bad movie, avoid it if possible.

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