Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Evening Star (1996)
Director: Robert Harling
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Fifteen years after the death of her daughter (and 14 years after Terms of Endearment), the sun's setting on Aurora Greenway (MacLaine). She's fighting with her grandchildren, feuding with her neighbour Patsy (Richardson) and succumbing to a shrink with a mother complex (Paxton). While Lewis is convincingly cast as Debra Winger's daughter, and you can always look to Richardson for poised bitchery, writer/director Harling ensures that everyone is but further grist to Aurora's already monstrous ego: even the ubiquitous Jack Nicholson pops in to pay tribute. This isn't so much a movie as a memorial service. MacLaine, though, is still very much alive and kicking, more than able to take a scene by the scruff of the neck. If there's no edge, at least there's a centre. Harling is best known for his play Steel Magnolias, and he also had a hand in the scripts for Soapdish and First Wives Club, so it's no surprise that the film's female characters have more going on than their feckless partners, but this adaptation of Larry McMurtry's novel irons out depth without tightening up a baggy shapeless narrative.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: Robert Harling
Producer: David Kirkpatrick, Polly Platt, Keith Samples
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Miranda Richardson, Bill Paxton, Juliette Lewis, Ben Johnson, Scott Wolf, Jack Nicholson full cast
Duration: 129 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now