I was very impressed with Terms of Endearment, so I had high hopes for the sequel, The Evening Star. What I liked about Terms was the realisticness of its wackiness. The characters made such dumb choices that it had to be real.
In Evening Star, it seems the whole film was made so that Shirley Maclaine would get a chance to play Aurora Greenway again. Somehow, the writers of the Terms that what we loved about it was Aurora and made a movie pretty much solely about her. That's what I like least. I thought Maclaine did give an Oscar worthy performance, but her character was so annoying. She didn't listen, she didn't learn, and those she did love she smothered.
Terms made you emotionally attached to each character in an unconditional way. No matter what they did, you knew they were just a human being making a mistake. That's lacking in Star, we just feel used and cheated.
The way the previews look, Jack Nicholson has a pretty big role. He's onscreen for five minutes tops. I don't blame Jack. He was probably doing the film as a favor to Maclaine, but didn't want to waste too much time on such a crappy film.
The one saving grace of the film is Juliette Lewis. She plays Melanie, the daughter of Emma (Deborah Winger). She plays the typical teenage girl so well. She speaks, walks, and behaves just like someone who's had to suffer through eighteen years of Aurora would.
All and all Star was a disappointment pretty much because it didn't reach the level Terms did. I hate to hate it for that, but it's still not a good film otherwise. I give The Eveing Star a D+.
