Étoile du soir

Terms of Endearement is one my my favorite movies. Evening Star was entertaining, but not as good. (Some of the situations seemed contrived) But....

The scene at the end when Aurora is surrounded by her family during her last moments was very touching to me. My grown daughter was watching the movie with me and I eased into the kitchen to weep, and I, slightly embarrassed, told her I was having a "mommie moment." I saw this film on TV not too long after my own mother died. She would have loved to have gone that way,peacefully, at home, with her family around her. Me too, for that matter.

When I saw "Terms of Endearment", it was my understanding before the movie that I would cry my eyes out for days. Well, I didn't. I cried for 6 or 7 minutes. Let me just say that I cried for a lot longer in this movie. For a sequel, it's excellent. It's almost like a story in a story.

In Aurora's later years, when her grandchildren are grown up and she even has a great-grand son (who enjoys singing "For she's a jolly good butt whole which nobody can deny" to Aurora's great annoyance) Aurora is still looking for the love of her life. She's still chasing after men, and finds one at, that, with her counselor/physchiatrist played by Bill Paxton. The romantic scenes between these two are unmissable. But here's where the problems strike the movie. In the first movie, Aurora was a little bit more....well.... unpremiscuous as you could possibly get. Here, she's a little more floozy-ish. Aurora changes from "Terms of Endearment" to this movie. This is still an excellent movie, with an extrememly heart-felt, and sad ending. I loved it! For those who liked "Terms", you'll love "The Evening Star." Shirley MacLaine shines. :)

Now when this movie first came out, no one really saw it. Critics gave it bad reviews. Part of the issue was the original Terms of Endearment was made back in 1983. So when some of the cast came back 13 years later, it can lose some of its box office draw. However, the time that passed actually made this movie more believable as the characters had also aged. Shirley MacLaine reprises her role and does a nice job, trying to raise her dead daughter's children. The movie stays grounded by dealing with everyday issues as well as getting older and the trials of a non-traditional family. Paxton plays a nice role in this film adding a little flare to the shadowing plot of Shirley MacLaine's character getting older. Nicholson's return, although brief, helped this film round itself out. See this one only if you see Terms of Endearment first.

Best Scene: Nicholson and MacLaine re-living the past on the beach.

Evening Star is a pointless return to the tragi-comic life of Aurora Greenway, heroine of the vastly-superior "Terms of Endearment." Sequel lacks the smartly realistic writing of the original, and is full of hokey lines such as "I remember hugs... mom was big on hugs," in a failed attempt to channel some of the rich characterization of the original. Much of the acting is quite good - MacLaine is, as usual, eminently watchable, Juliette Lewis does another of her typically strong turns, and never has Marion Ross been given a better opportunity to demonstrate her surprising range. Still, credible acting and an 11th hour appearance of (an embarrassed-looking) Jack Nicholson can only do so much for this contrived mess, and one cannot help but wonder why they couldn't leave well enough alone.

I was kind of disappointed. I was expected the same from the sequel with the role of Aurora Greenway played by Academy Award Winner Shirley Maclaine again. Of course, Jack Nicholson won his second Oscar for his role as her lover. In this film, Aurora deals with troubled grandchildren who she helped raise because the father was absentee. One grandson is in prison and her granddaughter is as stubborn as her daughter Emma played by Debra Winger was. Also Miranda Richardson plays a Texan friend that wanted to raise Emma. Also Marion Ross is cast in the role as Rosie Dunlop, Aurora's maid or housekeeper. There were some changes like ROsie lived at the house but Marion Ross earned a Golden Globe nomination and probably would have earned her Academy Award nomination if the film got better reviews. Marion does an excellent job in making us care so much for Rosie.