# Evening Star, The (1996)

### reviewed by
Edward Johnson-Ott

The Evening Star (1996) Shirley MacLaine, Bill Paxton, Juliette Lewis, Miranda Richardson, Ben Johnson, Scott Wolf, George Newbern, Marion Ross, Mackenzie Astin, Donald Moffat, China Kantner, Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Grant. Directed by Robert Harling. 129 minutes. PG-13, 1 star (out of 5 stars)

    Review by Ed Johnson-Ott
    NUVO Newsweekly
    www.nuvo-online.com/film/
    Archive reviews at http://www.us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-
    ott

I went into "The Evening Star", the sequel to "Terms Of Endearment", with an open mind. Really. I'd watched the 1983 original several times and enjoyed its rich, quirky characterizations and loping storyline. Heck, I even teared up at the appropriate moments. So I was in a receptive mood for another go around with Aurora Greenway and her dysfunctional family.

Over two hours later, I left the theater stunned. "The Evening Star" isn't simply a failed sequel. It's a veritable train wreck of a movie. Writers Larry McMurtry and Robert Harling (who also directed) are responsible for this mawkish, painfully slow, disaster.

Here's the gory details. It's 1988 and Grandma Aurora (Shirley MacLaine) continues to fret over her late daughter's children. Remember Tommy, the oldest boy, who sulked through the last third of the original movie? Well, he's an adult now and he never stopped pouting. Aurora visits him regularly in prison, where he's serving his third stint for possession. She hands him brownies and clucks away until he sneers, tosses the brownies in the trash and stomps back to his cell. This scene is played out several times, for no apparent reason.

Back home, pleasant middle child Teddy lives with his girlfriend and has a cute kid who says "butthole" a lot. Since Teddy seems reasonably well- adjusted, Aurora pays virtually no attention to him, focusing instead on little Mildred (Juliette Lewis), the film's ersatz Debra Winger. Millie divides her time between boffing her boyfriend (Scott Wolf as an aspiring underwear model) and screeching at Aurora on the many ways her life has been ruined by Granny's interference. As if this wasn't enough, longtime family friend Patsy (Miranda Richardson) hovers around the young woman constantly. Patsy never forgave Aurora for denying her custody of the kids, and spends most of the movie wreaking revenge.

This muddled soap opera provides Shirley MacLaine ample opportunities to showcase Aurora's histrionics. In the original film, Aurora was a fascinating character; a loving, overbearing control freak engaged in an internal war between her basic romantic needs and her strong sense of propriety. Here, the character becomes a grotesque caricature of the original. When she's not sputtering venomous insults in all directions, she's engaged in set pieces straight out of second-rate situation comedies. One of the worst, a catfight with Patsy on an airplane, is as embarrassing as anything from the final season of "Roseanne."

Director Harling's attempts at emotional manipulation make the proceedings even more annoying. The leaden soundtrack tells you how to feel, with a whimsical refrain for every comedic scene and dripping strings for the "heartfelt" moments. He constantly surrounds Aurora with an indulgent audience, housekeeper Rosie (Marion Ross) and several ex- suitors, who appear to exist solely to dote on her. Harling punctuates the screeching and slapstick by killing off a character every 30 minutes or so. Three seniors bite the dust by the film's end - - this movie has more death scenes than "Platoon."

Along the way, Aurora fights depression and searches for a sense of meaning to her life, which leads her into the arms of a slimy young counselor with a mother complex, played horribly by Bill Paxton. The utter lack of chemistry between the two is astounding.

An hour and forty five minutes into the film, Jack Nicholson finally makes his appearance…for about six minutes. Their too-brief reunion provides a few moments of awkward charm.

"The Evening Star" has a some touching moments. When you throw this much pathos on the screen, a little of it is bound to stick. At one of the many funerals, Millie, who was an infant when her mother died, asks brother Teddy what it felt like to have a family. Their exchange is simple and moving. A bonding scene between Aurora and Tommy also works, largely because both of them keep their mouths shut.

"The Evening Star" trivializes the rich characters from "Terms Of Endearment." If you enjoyed the original, watch it again and avoid this travesty at all costs.

    Copyright 1997, Ed Johnson-Ott

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