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1 article from 2007

29 June 2007 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Since his illness, Roger Ebert has mostly limited his reviews to "important" films that have usually earned his "thumbs up." Not so in the case of Evening, which certainly has a cast of "important" actors, including Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes, Natasha Richardson, Hugh Dancy, Toni Collette, Glenn Close, and Meryl Streep. "There are few things more depressing than a weeper that doesn't make you weep," he writes at the outset of his review. Most other critics agree. "An impressive pedigree doesn't always guarantee a felicitous outcome," Carina Chocano writes in the opening of her review in the Los Angeles Times. Similarly Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post comments that the movie "ultimately flattens under the weight of its own pretensions and impeccable pedigree. Indeed, it's so perfectly wrought that you won't believe a word of it." Clearly Kyle Smith in the New York Post is unimpressed by the "pedigree." His review begins this way: "This weeping ladydrama -- this cinematic doily, this chintz wing chair from a P-town antique boutique -- takes us to the oxymoronic world of WASP emotion. It's overstuffed with boring Protestants, understuffed with story and beset by hysterical (in both senses) acting. I'm not going to name any names but ... OK, Glenn Close, Vanessa Redgrave and Hugh Dancy: I've seen more grace and subtlety from a cat tossed into a swimming pool." On the other hand, Wesley Morris in the Boston Globe finds much to praise about the movie and its stars. "Evening is the sort of film certain moviegoers say they want more of during the summer and never get," he writes. "Well, now they've got it: a tony period drama full of the most esteemed stars ... an antidote to summer super-productions. Nothing in Evening blows up. None of the costumes are made of Lycra, and the acting is the only special effect that matters. ... Evening delivers these women in top form."

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1 article from 2007