Night Club

I saw this film last year at the Newport film festival. I had high expectations from the highly seasoned cast and was greatly disappointed. The negative parts that stood out were, 1. the lighting (was terrible )2. The cinematography was at best amateurish 3. The script, the acting and especially the Direction was sub par, and thats being kind. I truly thought it was a very low budget ,film school production. i really don't understand the glowing reviews UNLESS this movie was completely re-cut and edited , but i doubt that could salvage it.. The much earlier reviews of this reflect my experience with this film. I wanted to love this film and then I saw it and Oy gevalt it was painful. I would not be surprised if the glowing reviews were somehow connected with the filmmakers or actors, which would be unconscionable, were that the case. I cannot see how an honest, objective person can see this film and be pleased with it. Even the awards are questionable. I don't get it. The earlier reviews pretty much are spot on.

NIGHT CLUB is a unique film in that it blends both humor (from one-liners to slapstick) and drama (including some very poignant moments) and does so very well. It was great also to see such a mix of young 20-something actors holding their own on the screen with legendary veterans such as Ernest Borgnine and Mickey Rooney. Some of the scenes are laugh-out-loud funny; others are gripping and almost push you to tears. The film is very well-paced and doesn't have any lulls. NIGHT CLUB tugs on the heart strings. It's very unexpected and very welcome ... especially in an age of movie-going where most films are either sequels, remakes or follow the same dumb story lines. Bravo!

Night Club is a huge thumbs down. the cinematography is horrible and the directing is less than adequate. It does nothing to appeal to the audience and the emotions of the characters almost never change. Nightclub does nothing cinematically to appeal to your eye. The shot selection never changes through scenes and the setting is poorly decorated. They may have one or two decorations in the scene to show you what the setting is. the movie comes off very bland because there is no background music. Night Club becomes a bore to watch because it is like a broken record. No matter what the situation, whether it be positive or negative, the characters always respond with the same emotions. It does nothing to grab your attention.

I found Night Club, at first, a little slow in developing.However, once Ernest Borgnine appeared on screen, the movie took on a spellbinding appeal. The three young actors, playing USC students, gave convincing as well as possibly career changing performances. Furthermore, appearances by Sally Kellerman, Paul Sorvino, Mickey Rooney, as well as other older known actors brought not only added nostalgia, with respect to their past acting greatness, but more importantly, cemented the overall theme and genius of this film. In my opinion, I believe, this will be an Academy Award winner. As the movie poster states,"Everyone's Invited."

What can I say about Nigh Club? The film had heart, I'll give it that... but even that had little effect on my opinion, as any emotion that may have been produced by this films good intentions were quickly overpowered by a never ending stream of terrible dialog, God-awful cinematography, and poor acting. The film's title essentially sums up the movie, a night club is created for the elderly at a local rest home, and the protagonist masterminds this whole thing is so dis-likable, that you often find yourself hoping he fails, just so you can breathe a sigh of relief. A weak and unsupported romance also follows our hero throughout the film, and only in the end (after receiving a million dollars) does she finally come back to him... (AHEM!) can anybody say terrible timing? Aside from the apparent money hungry hussy, it was clear the director did not plan out any of the small details that would have made this film believable.

-Jim