An Avon saleslady (Dianne Wiest) makes the cold call of her life when she finds a young man named Edward (Johnny Depp) in a crumbling mansion. Edward was created but unfinished at the time of his maker's (Vincent Price) death, leaving him with shears for hands. Undaunted, Peg takes him to the suburbs, where he struggles to fit in and obsesses over Peg's teenaged daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder).
It's a nicer version of Frankenstein, sure, but there's something about it that just doesn't land for me and I think it centers on Kim. Her character has no depth, perpetually whines, and her wig falls into the Filmmaker's Poorly Disguised Fetish category. Everything else in the film works: the characterization of the suburbs, Alan Alda as the clueless but supportive dad, Depp still trying to be the second coming of Buster Keaton, the dogs, the topiary, the mini-malls, the mad scientist aesthetic. Everything but Kim.
In fact, if you removed her from the movie, pretty much nothing would change. You'd lose the framing device but nobody remembers that anyway.
I won't go so far as to say I hate it, but I've never owned a copy and I would never have watched it again if it weren't for Movie Club. It's streaming on (sigh) Max right now. See it once, if you haven't, and then go watch something better.
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