Andrew Sarris

“Plenty would seem to be the more accessible of the two [the other movie Sarris was reviewing was Sheer Madness] not only because it is spoken in English rather than German, but also because Meryl Streep is generally granted a special dispensation by art-house audiences to translate difficult projects into PBS platitudes. Plenty, as a case in point, would probably not have been bankable with Kate Nelligan, the original Susan Traherne, in the lead. Streep, though seemingly miscast early in the proceedings, ends up making the ever censorious, ever destructive Susan more vulnerable and sympathetic than she was on the stage. Streep clearly lacks Nelligan's intuitive sensuality and unaffected bitchiness, but she wills herself into the role through the sheer industriousness of her technique.

“…. [T]he assorted performances of Streep, Dance, Gielgud, McKellan, Sting, and Ullman are exemplary, each in its own venturesome way. In short, Plenty is plenty good… My problem with Susan Traherne remains, however--though, again, it may be an age problem. When I first read Hedda Gabler, in high school as it happened, I was all on Hedda's side. The world was simply not good enough, nor fast enough, nor exciting enough to meet her high standards. Later in Columbia, the late Joseph Wood Krutch took the side of the world against Hedda, and I felt chastened. Ever since, I've been wary of any signs of the sin of despair that nowadays accompanies so much of the thunder from the left.”

Andrew Sarris
Village Voice, September ?, 1985