MacLaine's star still shines in an otherwise mediocre sequel<\/p>\n
By Laksmi Pamuntjak-Djohan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The fundamental problem confronting The Evening
\nStar is the inevitable scrutiny it will come under in being
\ncompared to its 1983 predecessor. Yes, sequels are a chancy
\nbusiness at best. Terms of Endearment didn't only win five Oscars
\nincluding Best Picture, but Aurora Greenway also gave Shirley
\nMacLaine a character which redefined her career.<\/p>\n
The Evening Star's opening credits attest to screenwriter-
\ndirector Robert Harling's awareness of this history. Michael
\nGore's familiar Terms of Endearment theme plays softly over
\npictures of MacLaine, Debra Winger and Jeff Daniels, rekindling
\nmemories of that memorable upper class Houston family held
\ntogether by Aurora Greenway, the indomitable matriarch. Her
\nvolatile relationship with her feisty only daughter Emma, as we
\nremember, ended up in a heart-tugging reconciliation when Emma
\nwas discovered stricken with terminal cancer.<\/p>\n
The sequel, again based on Larry McMurtry's novel, finds
\nAurora 15 years older and little-changed. Still the same self-
\nabsorbed, vain, jealous, good-hearted, and smart as a whip know-
\nit-all, she watches with horror how the three grandchildren she
\nraised have turned out. Tommy (George Newbern) is a sullen sort,
\ndoing time in the local slammer for drug possession. Teddy
\n(MacKenzie Astin) is generally likable, but he lacks ambition and
\nis shacked up in a trailer with a girlfriend and their baby.<\/p>\n
But the main focus is 18-year-old Melanie (Juliette Lewis),
\nwho is a carbon copy of her rebellious, devil-may-care mother.
\nThe relationship mainly consists of Aurora being strict but nice,
\nand Melanie pouting and yelling at her. She moves out. She moves
\nin again. Then she insists on running off to Hollywood with her
\nnarcissistic, ne'er-do-well boyfriend, Bruce (Scott Wolf).<\/p>\n
An unhappy Aurora is tricked by her loyal housekeeper Rosie
\n(Marion Ross) into seeing a young, air-headed therapist named
\nJerry Bruckner (Bill Paxton). Little does she guess that Aurora
\nand Jerry will quickly jump into a September-May fling. Through
\nvarious trials and tribulations, Aurora tries to make sense of
\nher life by organizing photos and mementos into a scrapbook.<\/p>\n
Relationships<\/p>\n
While the key to Terms' success lay in its pitch-perfect study
\nof a contentious mother-daughter relationship, the creators of
\nThe Evening Star are hell-bent on examining other relationships
\ntaking place in Aurora's orbit. She reacts, but she remains a
\nfixed character, as constant as the evening star, so to speak.
\nSo we have Aurora's friendship with Rosie, Rosie's romance with
\nnext-door neighbor Arthur Cotton (Ben Johnson in his last role),
\nAurora's rivalry with Emma's best friend Patsy Carpenter (Miranda
\nRichardson in a deliciously over-the-top performance), Melanie's
\nrelationship with Bruce, and Aurora's strange relationship with a
\nformer flame, General Hector Scott (Donald Moffat), who still
\nstops by her kitchen on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
As with Terms, the first part of The Evening Star is racy,
\nlaid-back and full of bawdy humor. Halfway through, it starts
\nkilling off characters. Indeed, the boorishness of the grandkids,
\nthe haphazard stringing of only marginally-related episodes, and
\nthe way neighbors walk in and out of one another's houses, give
\nthis film an unmistakable air of sitcom. Oh yes, and the not one,
\nnot two, but three funeral scenes. After all, it's Harling's
\nscreenplay which buried Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias, so he's
\non familiar territory.<\/p>\n
Astronaut<\/p>\n
Not content to jerk tears with just a parade of funerals, the
\nfilm also brings back retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove (Jack
\nNicholson) for a blink-and-you'll-miss-'em cameo. Although it
\nseems more like a visit to the set than anything integral to the
\nnarrative, it is clear that the film refuses to end without him.
\nHowever, the balding flyboy with the killer smile makes the best
\nout of the opportunity; he seems both genuinely pleased to see
\nhis old love, and genuinely unsure of how to interact with her.
\nThere is so much affection and charm in those few scenes, that it
\nalmost feels like 1983 all over again.<\/p>\n
MacLaine gives another of her luminous, full-bodied, and open-
\nhearted performances -- one that she delivered to prickly
\nperfection in Mrs. Winterbourne and Postcards from the Edge. She
\nobviously has a blast returning to the role, and that obvious joy
\nis likely to bring an audience with her farther than the material
\nitself deserves. Watch her preening deliciously after she spends
\nthe night with Jerry, smiling venomously as she catches Patsy in
\na deception, and making overbearing motherhood her own personal
\nfiefdom.<\/p>\n
Terms' clear focus allowed MacLaine a complete, effective
\nswitch from comedy to pathos. Director James L. Brook's expert
\nhuman portraiture also made it possible for the audience not to
\nfeel so manipulated. The Evening Star, however, tries to tackle
\ntoo much -- too many characters and too many years. The dialog
\nalmost has a fluffy quality -- a slapstick or otherwise self-
\nsatisfied feel that's alien to the bedrock goodness and humanity
\nof Terms. The overall result is a sense of haste, insincerity,
\nless honest affection for the characters, which is a great pity
\ngiven the exceptionally fantastic cast.<\/p>\n
This is not to say, however, that this film doesn't include a
\ngood deal of the human foibles that make any movie family
\nbelievable. And rather than presenting another of those
\nsickeningly sweet families, it has the courage to stand as a
\nproudly and honestly dysfunctional family.<\/p>\n
Lest we forget, this film is also about aging. While we may
\nscoff at the silliness of Aurora's relationship with a man young
\nenough to be his son, these things, after all, do happen. Her
\nreconciliation with every one around her, including her arch
\nrival and nemesis, also proves that age inevitably brings a
\ncertain hard-won wisdom. Her moments of quiet introspection,
\ntoo, are particularly telling of that aging process: the need to
\nexplain her place in this world.<\/p>\n
Thus, the film's unabashed celebration of the older actor is
\nsomething to be commended on its own. Indeed, why should a
\nMacLaine be relegated to playing any leading character's mother
\nwhen she is so clearly still a shining star?<\/p>",
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