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Evening involves generations of the same American family and a dying woman looking back on her life — in other words, one of those movies only the British can pull off.
Based on the novel by Susan Minot, Evening comes to the screen as mostly mush. It’s watchable mush, however, thanks to a dazzling lineup of actors and interesting casting choices.
Vanessa Redgrave stars as Ann Lord, a bedridden woman at the end of her life. Her daughters (played by Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson, who is Redgrave’s daughter in real life) hover around their mom in her final illness, cluttering things up with unnecessary subplots. The daughters are startled to hear mom speak lovingly of someone named Harris. Who is Harris? Let the flashbacks begin.
The main story in Evening is set in the 1950s and centres on a society wedding in Rhode Island. Here is Ann as a young woman, played by Claire Danes, and she is maid of honour at the wedding of her rich college friend Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer).
In short order we meet Lila’s wild-thing brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) and her socially correct parents (Glenn Close and Barry Bostwick). And then there’s Harris (Patrick Wilson), the hunky doctor who just happens to be the son of the Wittenborn’s housekeeper. He has grown up with Lila and Buddy, and they adore him. Sadly, Lila really does love Harris and wishes she were marrying him, but that would be socially wrong, and so forth.
Ann finds Harris irresistible, too. They are obviously attracted to one another, but after Lila’s wedding, tragedy changes everyone’s life.
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It’s all terribly Great Gatsby, and fun to watch.
Evening is otherwise overcomplicated, what with all that movement back and forth in time, and it is indisputably a chick flick, but there are things to like about the film.
For one thing, Danes sings in Evening, and she has a lovely voice. For another thing, it’s a treat to look at the ’50s-period detail in the film.
On the cast front, Mamie Gummer shares the role of Lila with her real-life mom, Meryl Streep. Streep and Redgrave have a terrific scene together.
Glenn Close has a nanosecond of brilliance in a tiny scene about grief. The inimitable Eileen Atkins has a scrap of screen time as a nurse.
Those are a few of the nuggets you can find in this soggy pudding. Anyway, pudding is pudding, so it can’t be all bad.
(This film is rated PG)