''The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag'' is a 1992 American

screwball comedy Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristi ...

film directed by

Allan Moyle Allan Moyle (born 1947 in Shawinigan, Quebec) is a Canadian film director. He is best known for directing the films '' Pump Up the Volume'' (1990) and ''Empire Records'' (1995). Career His first major film was ''Times Square'' (1980). During the ...

and produced by

Scott Kroopf Scott Kroopf (born June 20, 1951) is an American film producer. He studied at the University of California with Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate progr ...

. It stars

Penelope Ann Miller Penelope Ann Miller (born Penelope Andrea Miller; January 13, 1964), sometimes credited as Penelope Miller, is an American actress. She began her career on Broadway in the 1985 original production of '' Biloxi Blues'' and received a Tony Award n ...

Eric Thal Eric Thal (born August 10, 1965) is an American film and stage actor, perhaps best known as Ariel in Sidney Lumet's ''A Stranger Among Us''; Sam Nivens in ''The Puppet Masters''; Samson in ''Samson and Delilah''; Meade Howell in '' The Wedding''; ...

, William Forsythe,

Cathy Moriarty Cathy Moriarty (born November 29, 1960) is an American actress and singer whose career spans over 40 years. For her work in Martin Scorsese's 1980 film ''Raging Bull'', she received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress ...

and

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard (; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards (tying the record for the most acting Emmys won by an African-American performer, along with Regina King), ...

. Rock and roll recording pioneer

Cordell Jackson Cordell Jackson (July 15, 1923 – October 14, 2004) was an American guitarist thought to be the first woman to produce, engineer, arrange and promote music on her own rock and roll music label. Early life She was born Cordell Miller in Pontotoc, ...

played a bit part as "Bathroom Woman". The film was distributed by

Touchstone Pictures Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featu ...

for

Interscope Communications Interscope Communications (also known as Interscope Pictures) was a motion picture production company founded in 1982 by Ted Field. It soon became a division of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. History Interscope Communications was founded in 1982 ...

Plot

Betty Lou Perkins is a meek

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

who nobody pays much attention to, in particular her husband, Alex. A criminal kingpin is killed in cold blood, and Betty Lou happens to find the murder gun. She is so mousy, however, that she cannot even get the police to listen to her, including Alex, who is a detective. In sheer frustration, she not only produces the gun, but also announces that she is the one who committed the crime. Behind bars, Betty Lou meets a variety of hardened and colorful characters. Rather than intimidate her, they actually increase her self-confidence. Once she is released, she begins to dress, speak, and act differently. Unfortunately for her, criminal acquaintances of the victim assume she must have confessed to the murder for a reason. They conclude she must be his mistress, and soon, the bad guys want a few words with her ... or worse.

Cast

as Betty Lou Perkins *

as Alex Perkins *

Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is particularly known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent films, a ...

as Elinor * William Forsythe as Billy Beaudeen *

as Ann Orkin *

as Reba Bush *

Xander Berkeley Alexander Harper Berkeley (born December 16, 1955) is an American actor and voice actor. Since beginning his career in the early 1980s, he has appeared in over 200 film and television projects. His film roles include '' Terminator 2: Judgment Da ...

as Mr. Marchat * Ray McKinnon as Frank Finch *

Andy Romano Andrew Romano (June 15, 1941 – September 14, 2022) was an American actor, known for playing "J.D.", an outlaw motorcyclist and right-hand henchman of the character Eric von Zipper (played by Harvey Lembeck) in the 1960s Beach Party movies (wh ...

as Shelby Herrick *

Faye Grant Faye Grant (born Faye Elizabeth Yoe, July 16, 1957) is an American film, television and stage actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Julie Parrish in NBC's science fiction series '' V'' between 1983 and 1985. Early life Grant ...

as Charleen Barnes * Michael O'Neill as Jergens *

Christopher John Fields Christopher John Fields (born September 23, 1968) is a Los Angeles-based director, teacher, and actor. He is the artistic director of the award-winning Echo Theater Company, a theatre he founded in 1997. Early life Fields was born in New York C ...

as Brown * Billie Neal as Gail *

Marian Seldes Marian Hall Seldes (August 23, 1928 – October 6, 2014) was an American actress. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for '' A Delicate Balance'' in 1967, and received subsequent nominations ...

as Margaret Armstrong *

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

as Lawrence *

Catherine Keener Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Acad ...

as Suzanne *

Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's ''Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in film ...

as Amos Lansing (uncredited)

Production

Reception

''The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag'' was panned by critics. It holds a 14% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 23 reviews. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'', reviewing the film when it was released in

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

, gave the film a D+, and called it a "foolish farce". The British film magazine ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' gave it three stars out of five, calling it "watchable" and noting that "Miller is a winning heroine", but characterizing the film as "too busy to be really funny". ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'' gave it two stars: "The cast shines in ''The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag''; watching these performers, you know this movie would have made for an inspired

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

, given better writing and direction."

Home media

The film was released on DVD by

Touchstone Home Entertainment Touchstone may refer to: * Touchstone (assaying tool), a stone used to identify precious metals * Touchstone (metaphor), a means of assaying relative merits of a concept Entertainment * ''Touchstone'' (album), a 1982 album by Chick Corea * T ...

on September 2, 2003, and on Blu-ray by Mill Creek Entertainment in May 2011.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag, The 1992 films 1992 comedy films 1990s screwball comedy films American screwball comedy films Films directed by Allan Moyle Films scored by Richard Gibbs Films set in New Orleans Films shot in New Orleans Films about librarians Interscope Communications films Touchstone Pictures films Films produced by Scott Kroopf 1990s English-language films 1990s American films