Evening Opens to Lukewarm Reviews

The most visible movie opening today that is not a major studio release is "Evening." The film was directed by Lajos Koltai and written by Michael Cunningham. The script was developed from a novel by Susan Minot. It is opening to lukewarm reviews despite the cast reading like a list of the most respected actresses of the past and present: Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, and even Streep's daughter, Mamie Gummer. Usually, a movie with a cast like that gets rave reviews, but critics are not taking the bait.

David Edelstein, of New York Magazine, writes, "People here don't just talk too much; they say, "There's something I have to tell you" first. "Evening" only bestirs itself when Meryl Streep, in old-lady makeup, pays Redgrave a visit: The way these two great actresses breathe the same air and adjust their rhythms to each other seems almost holy...Danes and Redgrave are a howling disconnect. It's not just that their features don't match, it's that they embody two different styles of acting: one coquettish, darting, playful; the other transparent, guileless, a little blah (in this context). It's the closest thing in "Evening" to a real existential crisis."