# Carrie Fisher already looked and was terrible in "The 'Burbs" (1989) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631 "2017-03-20T17:56:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/21 "2017-03-20T19:29:55Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > BTW, if you think Carrie Fisher looked bad in _The 'Burbs_, you should [see her](http://cineplex.media.baselineresearch.com/images/94160/94160_full.jpg) in _Drop Dead Fred_ with Phoebe Cates. Well, anyone would look bad in comparison to a young Phoebe Cates. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/22 "2017-03-20T20:01:30Z")
Drugs are bad, mmmmkay? ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/23 "2017-03-20T20:07:54Z")
She had pretty short hair in a lot of those movies from 1989 onward. Short hair, so I have read on the internet, makes women look…more mature. And the youtube time lapse went from Soapdish 1991 to Scream 3 in 2000. Pretty big gap, so yeah, there’s the most notable difference. For whatever it’s worth, I enjoyed The Burbs and thought Carrie Fisher looked and acted fine. And I thought she was also fine in The Force Awakens. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/24 "2017-03-20T20:10:45Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > If I had to guess, probably more than 10 years. But I’m sure I’ve seen it at least 3 or 4 times. (Possibly even in the theater, but I don’t remember.) It was amusing. Not a great film, but it is worth watching. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/25 "2017-03-20T20:20:08Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > She had pretty short hair in a lot of those movies from 1989 onward. Short hair, so I have read on the internet, makes women look…more mature. I was thinking exactly this … the ‘soccer mom’ hairstyles that were starting to get popular in that time period aren’t a good look for a lot of women, and I do think it makes her look older. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/26 "2017-03-20T20:23:46Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > When the movie was released, she was barely into her 32nd year, but she looks 40, easily. And she was sleepwalking through the whole thing and adding absolutely nothing to it, perhaps taking away from what little there was in the first place. She seems genuinely fucked up. I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. Looking at the provided video, she looks exactly like a 32-year-old woman, albeit one quite a bit prettier than most women. Honestly, I think you’re hallucinating or something. Maybe the short hair and dated styles have you totally fooled (they can do that.) I find your assessment of her appearance totally mystifying. It is perhaps the case that Fisher didn’t put much effort into plastic surgery and such. Few Hollywood actresses haven’t had work done. Fisher looks, at every age, no worse than the average person does at a similar age - again, bearing in mind she was strikingly pretty, but even accounting for that. The nice lady who lives across the street from us is about 50, and looks much older and less healthy than Carrie Fisher did at 60. The less nice lady who lives to our left looks like Ernest Borgnine at 60 after a weekend of hard drinking, and she’s about 50 as well. Neither my mother nor my mother in law, both pretty ladies, looked any better at 60 than Fisher did. Lots of women in my office are in their 50s and none look better than Fisher - actually, there’s probably 40, 45 women in my office and maybe two of them are as pretty as Carrie Fisher was at a similar age. You have a very warped sense of what relative ages look like, perhaps fooled by Hollywood trickery. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/27 "2017-03-20T20:25:32Z")
I had forgotten that she was in it, but looking at Google Images jogged my memory. She doesn’t look bad. Doesn’t look 40. She just looks like a woman who isn’t in her perky 20s. I’d vote that this OP is why Hollywood actresses can’t keep a career going past 30. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/28 "2017-03-20T20:27:16Z")
When I saw _The Force Awakens_, her face did not surprise me, but her voice shocked me: as raspy as a chain-smoker, and she seemed to have picked up a New York accent. Snow White had become Maude. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/29 "2017-03-20T20:31:34Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > Drugs are bad, mmmmkay? _Wishful Drinking_ has one of the best [book covers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wishful_Drinking#/media/File:Wishful_drinking_(book).jpg) of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/30 "2017-03-20T20:34:00Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I saw it again 5 or 6 years ago. It’s a bad movie, but a harmless, very-mildly-amusing-in-a-few-parts bad movie. A step above unwatchable dreck. I can’t defend it much, but I have no antipathy towards it ;). > > If she looks 40, it is an [attractive 40](https://www.google.com/search?q=carrie+fisher+burbs&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib2vr21eXSAhWCwLwKHWEqAzUQ_AUICCgB&biw=1216&bih=700) as far as I’m concerned. Ok…here i was expecting there to be some kernel of truth to the OP…but she looks amazing in those Burb pics so…WTF?? As for Force Awakens…I’ve decided that plastic surgery, to me, just makes a woman look even older. My brain associates it with age and it rarely, to me, helps. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/31 "2017-03-20T20:34:17Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. Looking at the provided video, she looks exactly like a 32-year-old woman, albeit one quite a bit prettier than most women. > > Honestly, I think you’re hallucinating or something. Maybe the short hair and dated styles have you totally fooled (they can do that.) I find your assessment of her appearance totally mystifying. It’s also worth pointing out that she was playing the role of a suburban wife in _The 'Burbs_. I know it wasn’t exactly cinéma vérité, but it did require her to be, and look, in character. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/32 "2017-03-20T20:37:07Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Okay, I’ll be the first to say it: The 'Burbs is good. Even though it had only one Corey. But it had a [Cory](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0200761/?ref_=tt_cl_t13) as well. So a cut-rate Two Corey movie. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/33 "2017-03-20T20:38:13Z")
And since we’re indulging our shallow sides…am i the only one for whom the gold bikini did absolutely NOTHING?? It’s not sexy!! Sexy requires context and being chained up to a space slug is the furthest thing from sexy. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/34 "2017-03-20T20:44:17Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Surely there are real women in your life. You know what they look like and there is no way you would think a 32 year old woman who looked like Carrie Fisher did in The 'Burbs was “terrible” and 'fucked up". I don’t think you are being a dick, however. I think you may be writing with your dick, though. > > I mean, HOLY FUCKBALLS talk about unreachable standards of beauty! Well let’s return to what I actually _wrote_: > [@me](#): > > When the movie was released, she was barely into her 32nd year, but she looks 40, easily. And she was sleepwalking through the whole thing and adding absolutely nothing to it, perhaps taking away from what little there was in the first place. She seems genuinely fucked up. Sure, and there’s the title too. But she looked _terrible for her age._ The hard living has clearly taken a toll. I do not think she was ugly in an absolute sense. That was the point I was making. I don’t even think she was _ugly_ in TFA. She just looked old and out of shape and unhealthy for her age. As for other women who look bad for their age (cited by **RickJay** ), well yeah. They exist. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/35 "2017-03-20T20:59:17Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Ok…here i was expecting there to be some kernel of truth to the OP…but she looks amazing in those Burb pics so…WTF?? > > As for Force Awakens…I’ve decided that plastic surgery, to me, just makes a woman look even older. My brain associates it with age and it rarely, to me, helps. Carrie could have gone the [Meg Ryan route.](http://img.wennermedia.com/300-width/1436380544_meg-ryan-zoom.jpg) This is Meg now at 55. I think it was just about when she hit forty when she did that first thing to her lips and she hasn’t stopped since. I wonder what the OP thinks of Meg’s looks. I agree about Carrie’s voice. There were a lot of cigarettes and whisky in that voice. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/36 "2017-03-20T21:21:22Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I thought Funny Farm with Chevy Chase was way less funny, for example. But his co-star makes that whole movie worthwhile! 😃 > [@Biggirl](#): > > Holy fuck, that’s terrible looking?! No kidding! I clicked, and was not offended. Thought she was kinda cute in those stills. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/37 "2017-03-20T21:30:03Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > No kidding! I clicked, and was not offended. Thought she was kinda cute in those stills. Again, guys, it’s the _whole package_ of how she seems in the 'Burbs, including her seeming really out of it. Had she _looked_ exactly the same but had seem into the movie and was acting well, I would not have written the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/38 "2017-03-20T21:38:07Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Sure, and there’s the title too. But she looked _terrible for her age._ The hard living has clearly taken a toll. I do not think she was ugly in an absolute sense. That was the point I was making. I don’t even think she was _ugly_ in TFA. She just looked old and out of shape and unhealthy for her age. How generous of you. Dude, sometimes it’s necessary to step back and admit you are wrong on a subject. Fisher looked fine in those pix from The Burbs, soccer mom outfits and all. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/39 "2017-03-20T21:39:55Z")
In those stills from _The 'Burbs_, she does still look pretty good. But she also looks older than she ought to have, and she didn’t improve with age. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631/40 "2017-03-20T21:43:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > In those stills from _The 'Burbs_, she does still look pretty good. But she also looks older than she ought to have, and she didn’t improve with age. ikr? By the way, maybe because it’s 2017 and people smoke less and just look younger for their ages, but people in their early 30s look _young_ to me, typically. I’m dating someone who is 35 who looks 28 on a bad day. I’m 45 and people typically think I’m 35ish. I wrote a dickish OP and accept that I will get some flak, but Fisher just didn’t look good for her age in that movie. _Not_ ugly but not looking 32, even with Hollywood makeup and lighting to back her up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrie-fisher-already-looked-and-was-terrible-in-the-burbs-1989/782631.md?page=3)