Twilight (R) * Starring Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon Directed by Robert Benton A Review by Frankie Paiva
"Doesn't it bother you that people like Catherine Hayward and Jack Ames can prance right through life with everyone else, guys like you and me left to pick up the pieces?" Asks Raymond Hope (James Garner) to Harry Ross. (Newman) They are discussing Susan Sarandon and Gene Hackman and the sudden disappearance of Susan's former husband in Twilight, a supposed nostalgic piece of the old 40s crime dramas. Yes it bothers me! Especially since the audience is asked to pick up the pieces of this horrible modernized detective story.
Harry is being interviewed about his past in a jail cell, he begins to tell the tale of how we got involved with the Ames family. He was referred by Raymond just after his alcoholism destroyed his life. This begins is a mindless chase over a $10,000 payment of something that happened in Mexico that's full of stereotypical characters and bad acting to reach a final conclusion. The actual parts of the film that lead to the finale (if you can even call it that) take no more than ten or fifteen minutes.
So, what else is offered to make this a 96 minute movie you ask. The nostalgia forties piece gets a modern dose of sex and violence. For instance, Stockard Channing is the only female character, whose breasts, we do not see! James Garner is the only one not having sex. And Gene Hackman is the only person who hasn't shot anyone! If this sounds like a piece of filth, it is.
The use of Gloria as a subplot is also a very weak excuse to pile on the violence. Even when she clubs him over the head, puts a gun to his face, and later tries to demand more money and kill him again. A couple of minutes before she dies (yes I'm giving away the plot, but trust me, you won't care anyway) she is suddenly made into a complex character with feelings that we are all supposed to grieve for.
This isn't to mention the fact over overwhelming cheese. Whereas in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (yes that was a comedy but I'm on a roll here) the cheese was used effectively and the actors were aware of it, this is supposed to come on as real drama.
Let me make this review shorter for you: If you enjoy inflicting pain on yourself, over and over again while constantly swearing and making crude sexual comments while baring your chest, than this is the film for you. If not, don't see Twilight, the film gets my * star.
A Review by Frankie Paiva The 12 Year-Old Movie Reviewer E-Mail me at SwpStke@aol.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews