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Evening
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some thematic elements, sexual material, a brief accident scene and language
Starring Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy, Natasha Richardson, Mamie Gummer, Eileen Atkins, Meryl Streep, and Glenn Close
Evening is a deeply emotional film that illuminates the timeless love which binds mother and daughter - seen through the prism of one mother’s life as it crests with optimism, navigates a turning point, and ebbs to its close. (Focus Features)
| GENRE(S): | Drama | Romance |
| WRITTEN BY: |
Susan Minot (also novel)
Michael Cunningham |
| DIRECTED BY: | Lajos Koltai |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 25, 2007 Theatrical: June 29, 2007 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 117 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 4.1 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Steve C gave it a0:
Although I have heard good things about the novel, the movie was excruciatingly bad. There isn't even the usual excuse that the author was not involved as she co-wrote the screenplay with another well-known author (and the writing was one of the worst things about the movie). Even the much-commented upon scene with Vanessa Redgrave and Meryl Streep arrives too late in this plodding picture to evoke any reaction other than "Please die soon" [addressed to Redgrave's character].
J F. gave it a0:
Halfway through the film, I had to escape, so I got up, went into the lobby and talked to the lone ticket taker about the history of the theater and life in general. Since my aged Aunt was inside … one of about 10 in a theater that could have held 400-500 … I went back. My lobby discussion was the best part of the 2 hours I spent there …. Perhaps I can make a movie based on it. My 86 year old Aunt who was looking forward to the movie said, “Why was it so long?”
Stephen S gave it a5:
Susan Minot’s Evening is an outstanding novel by an underrated writer. What’s impressive is the marriage of desperate emotion with cool technique, as dying Ann Lord drifts back to her defining youthful weekend with handsome but irresolute Harris Arden. Minot’s cascading passages cleverly match Ann’s fateful mental descents, drawing out the truth and tragedy of any life not “long enough or wide” for its owner to “know the whole of herself”. Lajos Koltai cannot translate this subtlety, and his Evening arrives as a pleasant postcard from an inconsequential director. Neither is Michael Cunningham (yep, him of The Hours, with Nicole K and her Virginia W proboscis) a sublime choice as Minot’s script collaborator. I don’t understand the gloss that is put on Harris’s rejection of Ann, nor indeed why the brilliant Minot would collaborate with pedestrians like Koltai and Cunningham. It’s only a four, but let’s give it five for Claire Dane’s vivacious turn.
Jennifer gave it a2:
With a great song from Dido on the trailer and a cast full or great actresses how could you go wrong. That is what I thought going into the film. I took my mom and grandmother and my grandmother was the only one who enjoyed it. My mother and I felt like it was two hours of our lives we would never get back. The film kept the same pace the entire time. A very dull place. Meryl Streep was only in the movie for all of 10 minutes if that. As soon as she made her exit it was back to dull again. I can't speak on the movie in detail because there is absolutely nothing to say. I left that movie figuring out how to salvage the rest of my day.
Will H. gave it a2:
What a disappointment! I knew when I started counting the illuminated exit signs in the theater 45 minutes into the film that we were on a downward spiral. With such a stellar cast, I wondered if anyone actually read the script beforehand? The film is so plodding and lackluster that when Meryl Streep finally shows up at the end you hope for salvation. The actual short scene with Streep and Redgrave is riveting, unfortunately it only lasts minutes. Rent the DVD and fast forward to the last 20 minutes.
Billy S. gave it a6:
Evening is a star-studded soap opera that moves at a snails pace that would have been much better without the flashbacks to a weekend wedding that plays like a Douglas Sirk take on The Great Gatsby. But I'd put down another ten bucks just to see the 10 minute scene between Vannessa Redgrave and Meryl Streep over again! It was like Pacino & DeNiro in Heat, one of those landmark meetings of acting Gods that make you forget that you've been sitting through 2 hours of schlock just for this moment, and boy is it worth it!
Patricia R. gave it a2:
I was INTENSELY disappointed by this movie which was replete with several reputable actors. The story was lackluster, inconsistent, and unworthy of the plethora of emotion which the actors were made to effuse. Despite the sorry medium, Hugh Dancy shone as an actor of great scope and ability.

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