If only it had been more consistent, this broad comic satire on US daytime soap TV could have been a riot.

Sally Field throws herself whole-heartedly into the role of the veteran soap queen who finds younger wolves snapping at her heels and skeletons from the cupboard of her past tumbling out on set.

'This place is crawling with sub-plots,' grumbles one executive, while the head of programming (director Garry Marshall in a rare acting role) is more concerned with the content of the studio's top soap The Sun Never Sets.

'That's cute,' he snaps at chief writer Whoopi Goldberg, 'but when are we gonna put someone in a coma? '

Fast-moving, scattershot, and more miss than hit, the movie wastes Goldberg completely, leaving her a bemused sidelines observer.

Even that beats the fate suffered by Carrie Fisher, whose character disappears after about 10 minutes.

Just when your attention's wandering, though, the script comes up with one of its gems again.