THE EVENING STAR
A film review by Laura & Robin Clifford
Copyright 1997 Laura & Robin Clifford
(This review is an excerpt from Reeling, a movie review show hosted by Laura and Robin Clifford, running on Boston Cable TV. Note that the film descriptions vary in completeness due to the fact that they're actually intros for running film clips.)
THE EVENING STAR ----------------
the sequel to "Terms of Endearment" starts 15 years after Aurora Greenaway (Shirley MacLaine, who won the Best Actress Oscar for the previous film), lost her daughter Emma to cancer and was left to raise 3 grandchildren. 18-year old Melanie's (Juliette Lewis) battles with Aurora echo Aurora's love-hate relationship with Emma; while older brother Tommy glowers in jail on a drug charge and Teddy happily drives a tow truck and lives with a woman Aurora despises and his illegitimate son. Faithful housekeeper Rosie (Marion Ross) silently observes and supports Aurora as Aurora juggles lovers old and new, jealously wars with Emma's best friend Patsy (Miranda Richardson) and prepares for the departure of Melanie with her two-timing boyfriend Bruce.
LAURA:
"The Evening Star" is far too episodic compared to the better-strutured first film which concentrated on the mother-daughter relationship between Aurora and Emma. In this one, we get Aurora's relationship with each of her grandchildren, her relationships with past lovers, her relationship with her new lover, her relationship with her deceased daughter's best friend, her relationship with her friend/housekeeper and her relationship with her great-grandchildren. Sheesh!
MacLaine's still in fine form as Aurora, but we've been watching her do shadings of this character too many times in the interim (like "Madame Sousaztka" or Tess in "Guarding Tess") to find any freshness here.
Marion Ross may receive a Best Supporting Actress nomination and she's fine, especially in the scene where she tells Aurora why she's leaving her employ. But the standout performances for me were Miranda Richardson's hilarious and complex Patsy and Donald Moffat's sweetly affecting performance as retired General Hector Scott. Ben Johnson also had his last performance as Aurora's neighbor who gives Rosie her last hurrah. I normally love Juliette Lewis' performances, but here she never seems to rise above sitcom level acting - loud and obvious.
When Jack Nicholson finally makes his appearance, looking Aurora up after all these years and now a family man, I was relieved mainly because I thought I could now see the end of "The Evening Star" in sight. But no, it continues to meander on far too long past its logical conclusion.
Some silliness along the way also doesn't help. Bill Paxton as Aurora's shrink-lover with a mother fixation doesn't really go anywhere in the story. Juliette Lewis suddenly becomes a TV star on the west coast (after her first and only audition). We also get three deaths for the price of one in this sequel, which considering the hankie quotient of the first movie may not have been the wisest choice.
"The Evening Star" is mostly just plain irrelevant, but some fine performances raise it slightly over it's storyline.
C
ROBIN:
Aside from giving Shirley MacLaine a chance to mug up to the camera, I don't see the point of "The Evening Star." Anything that may have been compelling in "Terms of Endearmeant" is lost in this charmless and stilted effort.
Writer/director Robert Harking renders a flat story with caricatures rather than characters taking up screen time. With the exceptions of Marion Ross, who is quite wonderful as Aurora's housekeeper and friend, and Donald Moffat as Aurora's former lover and friend, I didn't give a hoot about any of the other "people" in the movie. Aurora's grandchildren should poster children for birth control. Bill Paxton, as her much younger lover, is two dimensional, at best.
Also of note is Miranda Richardson, a fine actress, wasted heres, although she tries to lend what depth and humor she can to the film.
The story is episodic in nature, woodenly moving from one incident to the next, with the only interesting thing, for me, being to guess as to when Nicholson will make his cameo. I figured his arrival would signal the end of the movie - boy, was I wrong.
Thinking about the original, I realize how shallow a cast and character-writing effort was made or "The Evening Star." No one delves below the surface of their characters. It ends up as a hodge-podge of stories about people you don't care about. And, they all live happily ever after. Sort of. I was going to talk about this more, but why bother?
I don't like "The Evening Star" and I don't know why it was made. Aside from its ties to "Terms," there is nothing about this movie that recommends it. Shirley MacLaine, as Aurora, is less likeable than in the first. With the exceptions noted above, no one else is likeable much either.
Save your money, or go see "Shine."
I give "The Evening Star" a D (for DUD).
Visit Reeling at http://www.neponset.com/reeling
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