Wonderful character development!

Such a frustrating disappointment

As Good As It Gets

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Twilight (1998): Dir: Robert Benton / Cast: Paul Newman, Gene Hackman, James Garner, Susan Sarandon, Reese Witherspoon: Paul Newman plays a retired detective who tracks down an actor's daughter. Couple years later he is staying with the cancer burdened actor and his manipulating wife. Soon he is involved in a mystery of murder, blackmail and incidents of the past. Interesting setup has loopholes when factoring ages of particular characters. Director Robert Benton does a superb job. Principal actors are on target including Newman whose career is hindered after a gun shot wound. Now he ventures into territory that is forbidden and dangerous. Gene Hackman plays his friend with cancer who sets up the investigation by hiring Newman only to discover things that he wished he hadn't. Susan Sarandon plays the seductive wife who tempts Newman and toys with the mystery. James Garner also appears in the investigation and although the role isn't as broad as it should be, it is pivotal. Reese Witherspoon is featured as the teenager whom Newman is assigned to locate. Convincing her go go along results in a leg injury and a lot of cynicism. The purpose is to recapture the feeling of old film noir and it rightfully claims this through superb veteran actors who are well into their twilight years. Fine plot twists carry it into the limelight while the narrative heads for a dark tunnel. Score: 9 / 10

A 20-year-old mystery, a love triangle and some dark secrets are just a few of the intriguing ingredients of this intelligent, low-key, crime drama. Murder, blackmail and betrayal also feature heavily, but it's the complicated relationships between the story's characters that ultimately distinguish this from so many other similar neo-noir thrillers. Its moody atmosphere is established early on by Elmer Bernstein's wonderfully evocative score and the feelings of loss, sorrow and regret that are so apparent in many of the characters add further to the profoundly melancholic feel of the piece.Retired private detective Harry Ross (Paul Newman) works as an odd job man for a couple of old friends who used to be top movie stars and lives in an apartment above their garage. His current arrangements began a couple of years earlier after he'd been hired by Jack (Gene Hackman) and Catherine Ames (Susan Sarandon) to bring back their 17-year-old daughter Mel (Reese Witherspoon) who'd run away to a Mexican resort with her significantly older boyfriend. Harry completed the job successfully but, as a result of a bizarre accident, suffered a bullet wound in the thigh.One day, Jack sends Harry on a seemingly routine job to deliver a package to a woman called Gloria Lamar (Margo Martindale). When Harry arrives at her place, a seriously wounded man shoots at him numerous times before dying. Harry soon establishes that the dead man was an ex-cop who was involved in the investigation into the disappearance of Catherine's fist husband 20 years earlier. Almost immediately, Harry's apprehended by police lieutenant Verna Hollander (Stockard Channing) and during his time being questioned, meets his old friend and fellow retired cop, Raymond Hope (James Garner). Both Raymond and Verna had been colleagues of Harry's during his time as a police detective.After being released by Verna, Harry goes on to carry out his own investigation into the 20-year-old mystery and in the process, makes some interesting findings.The main characters in this movie have all seen better times and reflect on their failures, faded glories and mortality on different occasions. These are people in the twilight of their lives who live with their disappointments and lack of hope for the future but whose strong passions and determination to get what they want, continue to complicate their lives. The all-star cast is brilliant in this movie with Newman, Hackman, Sarandon and Garner all displaying tremendous maturity, subtlety and charisma and Channing, Witherspoon and Martindale all exceptionally good in their supporting roles.

The cast is the first thing that struck me, prior to watching this best-of-the-B-movies almost-film-noir. They're stars, and they all deliver star performances. Hackman especially is, as always, amazing. Even James Garner does a good job.I don't think I'm spoiling anything to say that there are no big surprises, and only a very few little ones, in this movie. It's not quite a film noir, a little bit too much humor for that, but I think it's worth the trade-off. As a small bit of icing on the cake, it's interesting to see Liev Schreiber as a young punk, after seeing him as an older, much more dangerous Ray Donovan.All in all, nothing great beyond the cast, but a good entertainment.

Not the terrible 'Teen Vampire' nonsense but an excellently acted 'Noir' with Paul Newman as an over the hill retired ex-cop and former private eye who resides with a actor friend (Gene Hackman) who is dying from cancer and his seductive actress wife (Susan Sarandon) Newman is requested by Hackman to run an 'errand' unbeknown to him he becomes embroiled in murder. He stumbles into a mysterious 20 year old case which deals with the disappearance of Sarandon's former husband. 'Twilight' has an excellent cast, on top of having Hackman, Sarandon, theirs an appearance from James Garner, who also has shady dealings. Liev Schrieber and Reese Whitherspoon also appear the latter contributes a revealing nude scene at the beginning.