Overrated and overhyped

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The Evening Star (1996): Dir: Robert Harling / Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Juliette Lewis, Bill Paxton, Miranda Richardson, Jack Nicholson: Enlightening sequel to Terms of Endearment expressing the dusk of life. Shirley MacLaine reprises her role with many new family trials. She visits her son in jail realizing that the brownies she brings are always thrown away. Her daughter quit school and caught having sex with her boyfriend. She decides to see a shrink at the forceful request of her maid. This leads to fornication and a sense of freedom. Screenplay is disjointed and overuses the death theme. We are not as moved by the conclusion as we should be. Director Robert Harling does a fine job at continuing this family and is backed with beautiful photography. MacLaine holds strong as a woman needing a break from routine responsibilities. Juliette Lewis plays her daughter who aims to be an actress. Miranda Richardson plays a nosy neighbor whom MacLaine dislikes because she is closer to her daughter than she is. Bill Paxton plays a shrink with a showgirl mother. Their affair is predicted but her dealing with it is right. The one complaint is that Jack Nicholson merely makes an appearance here and it seems rather tacked on. With a tremendous ensemble cast this makes for a worthy followup to Terms of Endearment with themes regarding age and legacy that allow the star to shine. Score: 7 ½ / 10

Alright so TOE is one of my favorite movies of all time. I read Evening Star as soon as it came out. I was a little hesitant to see that they were making the sequel. Maybe because I am secretly clairvoyant because this movie is a MESS. Oh my God, where do I start? Well, the beauty of TOE was that it covered the lives of Emma and Aurora since she was in the crib through her adolescence and adulthood until her untimely death. We grew to know the characters and love them or not. Well in ES, it's just a mishmash of several plots over the course of at most several months (!!!). Also the casting was strange. Juliette Lewis was awful but she was high on heroin the whole time so that would explain her awful performance. Marion Ross as Rosie was miscast. And where the HELL is Lisa Hart Carroll as Patsy??? Instead we get Miranda Richardson who was just terrible and SOOO not Patsy.I put most of the blame for this mess on Robert Harling. He had a hit with Steel Magnolias, and he obviously is in love with the idea of a tearjerker. However, this screenplay is so overloaded with excess drama and attempts to bring a tear that you end up feeling used and angry. He totally changed the screenplay from the actual book.I could go on and on and on about how awful this movie was, but I'll spare you. I suppose if I'd never grown up on TOE this movie might not make me so angry. But then they should have had a different actress play Aurora and just a whole new cast, which they basically did anyway. If you loved TOE, do NOT see this. I'd give it a one out of ten.

I actually saw this movie well before I ever viewed "Terms of Endearment", a movie slightly before my time. I am so glad that I did! Although I was considerably lost during some of the plot line, especially concerning the personal histories of the characters, I am certain I would not have enjoyed it nearly as well if I had viewed "Terms of Endearment" prior. For anyone that has seen the other film and subsequently enjoyed it, I am sure that the sequel doesn't even begin to live up to their expectations. That's not to say that it isn't a movie without merit. There is quite a bit of subtle (as well as not-so-subtle) humor to be found in this movie, and since it is slightly more up-to-date, newer generations might even appreciate it more (GASP!) than the original. It does have a completely different feel to it than its predecessor, though. If "The Evening Star" accomplished nothing else, it peaked my curiosity enough for me to view the first movie, one that I have since fell in love with. "Terms of Endearment" being a film which, although hearing good things about throughout the years, I probably would have never even given a chance if not for stumbling across it's sequel.

This movie was disappointing to say the least. 'Terms of Endearment' is such a wonderful movie that I can imagine that it was difficult trying to create a sequel, but in this movie it is all too obvious that the writers were trying way too hard. Everything about this movie seems contrived and hopelessly devoid of the real emotion of the first. 'Terms' was more subtle and real, and I just felt like this movie was in your face trying to make you cry at every turn. It was actually difficult for me to sit through the whole thing.