By Mary Anne Hempe
pop writer
Despite her legendary theatrical genes, I never considered Drew Barrymore to be much of an actress. It seemed like all she really inherited was a famous name.
Sure, she was darling in "E.T." and "Boys on the Side," but every other Drew Barrymore performance has been just Drew.
It turns out, however, Barrymore's talent was there all along. But she was waiting for the right role to show it off.
The part of a lifetime finally came in 2009, when Barrymore scored heaps of praise and a well-deserved Emmy nomination for her amazing transformation into Little Edie Bouvier-Beale for HBO's "Grey Gardens."
Using the 1975 documentary of the same name as inspiration, our story begins with the filming of Little Edie as she performs one of her "cabaret" dances in the foyer of her famous mansion, Grey Gardens.
In her late 50s, clad in a black leotard, white spike heels and one of her signature turbans (to cover her hair loss from alopecia), Edie gleefully waves a small American flag while she dances for the camera.
Who is this strange and fascinating character?
To find out, we're transported back to 1936, on the night when a lovely young Edie made her debut into New York society. Little Edie was born into privilege, the daughter of Phelan Beale (Ken Howard), a wealthy lawyer, and Edith Bouvier (Jessica Lange), also known as Big Edie, a flighty, former showgirl, whose niece, little Jacqueline, a frequent summertime visitor to Grey Gardens, will one day be First Lady Jackie Kennedy.
Phelan and Big Edie hope Little Edie's debut will land her a rich husband, but Little Edie, always a free spirit to the point of weirdness, isn't interested in anything other than a career as an actress and dancer. She tries to make it big in New York, but when Big Edie's constant meddling thwarts that plan, Little Edie comes home to live with Big Edie at Grey Gardens, the family's once grand mansion in New York's Hamptons.
By the time Little Edie returns, Phelan has left the family to marry his secretary, providing a measly $150 a month to Big Edie to live on.
Feeding off each other's insecurities, Little Edie and Big Edie constantly battle, acquire dozens of cats and raccoons, and let the place fall into ruins over the next few decades.
When a tabloid photographer later discovers that Jackie Onassis's relatives are living in a pig sty, their bizarre story hits the papers, bringing a visit from none other than Jackie herself (Jeanne Tripplehorn).
Albert and David Maysles (portrayed in the movie by Arye Gross and Justin Louis) made their documentary "Grey Gardens" after Jackie's crews cleaned up the old place, but Little Edie and Big Edie were still as kooky and charming as ever.
Barrymore and Lange are marvelous in the starring roles. Lange, in fact, is completely unrecognizable. To get in character, Barrymore shut herself off from family and friends for months before filming and endured hours of make-up that didn't react at all well with her skin. It was worth it -- she doesn't even look like herself, and she certainly doesn't act like the old Drew from "Never Been Kissed." Even her voice is different.
Awards or not, Barrymore is definitely a revelation in "Grey Gardens" (rated PG-13), which you can find at Hastings. Check it out.
