Nice effects though.

How sad is this?

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I remember seeing this years ago and besides Forest Whitaker and Jeff Goldblum having the major roles in this movie the thing I was impressed with was the music. So much so that I wondered all this time if there is a soundtrack available. This is the second time in several years that I've searched for this movie for the same reason, only I forgot the name of it but always recall the two major actors so I knew I could find it again. I didn't realize that this was a made for TV movie, I don't recall what the plot was but I do recall FW and JG and foremost was the Big Band sound that blew my mind. I gave it an eight mainly because I don't really remember it but that it was a mishmash of what I can recall of it and that I would very much like to get the music. I'm a Blues and Rock and Roll lover and the only place I've seen Big Band stuff is on TV and the only mike was just for the singer. I imagine the whole venue grooving to it's natural vibe.

Lush Life is a fairly standard buddy movie (with Forest Whitaker and Jeff Goldblum), but this time the buddies are interesting people and have talent. There's also a slight "cherchez la femme" subplot, but it adds to the story instead of distracting from it. Kathy Baker does a wonderful job of proving her character's importance to the story without taking (too much) away from the interactions between Goldblum and Whitaker, two jazz musicians each facing their share of turning points in each of their lives.The music is what kept me interested. Each of the principals has a big-name jazz stand-in, and the voice and virtuoso playing of the stand-ins practically steal the movie. I love classic jazz; if you do, too, see -- and, more important, listen to -- Lush Life.P.S. If anyone knows whether a soundtrack album exists, or even a few CDs where I can find the tunes, please let me know.

I'd say the strongest point is the music by Lennie Niehaus. He also did the music for all of Clint Eastwood's movies. The acting is really terrific, and the story is an accurate portrayal of the Bohemian life style of New York jazz musicians.One error in some of the reviews: Kathy Baker did NOT sing the songs, Sue Raney did. This was apparently a lip-sync by Raney, who is a well-known and respected vocalist here in southern California.The producer was generous in letting real musicians have some of the acting roles. For example, Jack Sheldon had a cameo role as one of the musicians, and the obnoxious booking agent was played by Buddy Arnold, a long-time jazz reed player on the west coast.

My brother turned me on to this movie and I've about worn out my VHS copy of it. A lot of jazz movies suffer from "short attention span camera syndrome"... i.e., once the music starts, after a bit, the camera wanders away and busies itself with some irrelevant bit of drama or dialog. "Lush Life" suffers from this problem only slightly, I'm happy to say. I was particularly impressed with how believable the actors look when they're playing their instruments. I do have one criticism of this movie, however, and it's a doze as far as I'm concerned: why, why, why, didn't they release a soundtrack album? I would have bought it in a heartbeat and I'll bet most of the other people who saw this movie would have, too. In an age when the soundtrack album is all but ubiquitous, to have a movie that does not have one -- when the movie is ABOUT MUSIC -- is beyond understanding.