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Evening

Platitudes and mediocrity

By PETER KEOUGH | July 3, 2007

1.0 Stars

EVENING: Good actresses with bad taste.

Some of the best actresses working in movies today pack the cast of Evening, Lajos Koltai’s adaptation of the Susan Minot novel, and all I can say is, was this the best thing available? Or do they just have bad taste? Sometimes the drugs send terminally ill Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) into flights of fancy in which she chases after a butterfly or a night nurse dressed like a fairy godmother. Or, with metronomic regularity, Ann slips into a flashback (as Claire Danes?) to a fateful wedding in Newport 50 years ago. Her condition fuels the conflict between smugly settled Constance (Natasha Richardson) and independent loser Nina (Toni Collette). By the time Meryl Streep shows up to add some dignity, the platitudes have taken over, as in, “There are no mistakes.” Such as Nina’s unwanted pregnancy, after which she learns that happiness means embracing mediocrity, marrying the boy who knocked you up, and raising more fucked-up children like yourself.

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Topics: Reviews , Entertainment, Movies, Meryl Streep, More

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