EVENING

My quest to see all of Meryl Streep's films continues. This time the film is Evening from 2007.

Take two Oscar-winning iconic actors (Meryl Streep and Vanessa Redgrave)… pair them with their own real-life actor daughters (Mamie Gummer and Natasha Richardson)… throw in even more award-winning actors (Glenn Close, Toni Collette, and Claire Danes)… and you should have a monumental two-hour masterpiece. Or not.

Anne Lord (Redgrave) is on her deathbed and reliving a specific time in her past. Her daughters (Collette and Richardson) care for her as she wafts in and out of consciousness. Lord continues to mentally revisit a period in her youth (she's now portrayed by Danes) when she was close friends with Lila (Gummer) and Lila’s family. Through them, she met Harris (Patrick Wilson) a man with whom she would develop feelings and eventually have a one-night affair. And now, in her final hours of life, she wonders what would have happened had she pursued a life with Harris.

Glenn Close is magnificent as Lila’s steely mother, and Hugh Dancy delivers an amazing performance as Lila’s emotionally tortured brother, Buddy. Really, all the primary players deliver fine performances. Despite all the premiere acting though, the film just doesn’t work. As Lord is breathing out her final hours, she’s visited by Lila (now portrayed by Streep). Yet despite their previous close friendship, neither of Lord’s daughters has met her. And Lord’s daughters can’t seem to figure out if they like each other, both bickering and believing the other is judging her. But saddest of all is that in her final hours, Lord is fixated on a man she barely knew from decades earlier in her life. I’m just not sure what I was supposed to garner from this film. Despite its wonderful cast, it was quite frankly a bore. It is a film that unfortunately gives “chick flicks” a bad reputation.