Lovin' Molly

A slow and rambling replay of threads from The Last Picture Show, similarly based on a Larry McMurtry novel (Leaving Cheyenne) and seen through the same misty eyes. The film attempts to trace the relationship of its three protagonists over some forty years, overcome with a deepening sense of loss as youthful rural idyll turns sour with age and material success. Perkins is the withdrawn Gid; Bridges the placid brother; and Blythe Danner the woman intermittently shared by the brothers but refusing to marry either of them. It is her character the film has most difficulty with, battling to cope with her conscious quest for independence but sliding back into earth-mother cliché. While Lumet elicits very watchable performances, he doesn't really manage to imbue the film's sentimental fabric with enough insight to sustain its weighty format.