Supergirl

(Jeannot Szwarc, USA, 1984)

Anyone who ever marvelled at the odd series Superboy (which unfolded, at least on Australian television, in the wee hours) may be curious to check out this earlier hopeful spin-off from the Christopher Reeve series of Superman films.

Despite the occasionally pointed, ironic gender-reversal of elements from those films, Supergirl is a rather drab, save-the-earth-from-the-brink-of-destruction affair.

Helen Slater gives the title role her best shot, but Faye Dunaway camps it up unbearably as an extravagant villain.

MORE Szwarc: Santa Claus

© Adrian Martin December 1992