Poor opening reviews have done nothing to deter audiences from filling theaters
wherever “Evening” is playing (don’t look for it at the multiplex). Once again
we see that movie lovers are often happy just to soak up the performances of
fine actors even in a mediocre vehicle. This vehicle is indeed mediocre, but
look who’s on hand: Vanessa Redgrave and her own daughter Natasha Richardson,
Meryl Streep (very briefly) and her daughter Mamie Gummer, Glenn Close, Claire
Danes, Toni Collette, Eileen Atkins.
If the actors
are first rate and the premise a good one, then you know it has to be the script
that diminishes the movie. The dialogue, to be charitable, is ordinary. As Ann
(Vanessa Redgrave) lies dying in her bed, her mind has returned to a long ago
weekend when she was a bridesmaid to Lila (Mamie Gummer). During the wedding
weekend it becomes clear that both women are in love with Harris (Patrick
Wilson). Lila’s brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) is in love with both Harris and Ann.
Everyone loves Harris. In other words, we have a soap opera. Don’t bother trying
to keep straight maiden and married names or young and old actors playing the
same person. Just keep your eye on the bouncing ball – the Redgraves and the
Streeps – and enjoy an acting holiday for mothers and daughters.
The family
has gathered for Lila’s wedding in her family’s summer cottage in Newport. The
movie begins with great promise as Ann and Buddy dance through the bright rooms
and porches of the cottage – one of the hugely open, shingled places that
welcomed family and friends in a pre-war world. As they dance through these
wonderful rooms, neither we, nor the guests, are ever without a view of the
water.
As so many of
these places were, this one is owned by a WASP family, the Winterborns. Glenn
Close, as Mrs. Winterborn, mother of the bride, is one of the few actors who can
play a WASP with credibility. We can read her mind only through her eyes. Mamie
Gummer plays the reluctant bride throughout the flashbacks, and appreciative
laughter ripples through the audience when she morphs into Meryl Streep as the
film moves to present day – the physical resemblance is endearingly comical.
Watch her as she dresses for her honeymoon with the wrong man in a WASP suit
complete with pearls and a gold lapel pin. Credit Claire Danes with a fine
performance as the young Ann, the awkward outsider who finds her ground quickly.
The movie
builds to the reunion of the dying Ann and her bridesmaid, Lila, but when it
comes, it’s too short and enigmatic at best. Imagine Redgrave and Streep digging
into real dialogue. This is a melodrama that really doesn’t go anywhere. With a
good script in hand this cast could touch us all. Having unloaded all this
negativity, I can only say that I’m still very glad I went.
Copyright (c) Illusion