"Brighton Beach Memoirs" is a very disappointing movie. How disappointing? Instead of leaving the theater with a smile on your face and a tear in your eye, you leave moody and depressed. This is not how one is supposed to feel after seeing a comedy.
This is the film version of one of Neil Simon's very best plays. On stage, it is full of energy, wit and spunk. On film, or at least this film, it's all very flat, like day old cola.
One major problem is the casting. Jonathan Silverman is all wrong as Eugene Jerome. He's too willing to play Eugene in Jerry Lewis style. There's nothing wrong with Jerry Lewis style; I happen to love that style of comedy. But that approach just doesn't work for this play. A better choice would have been Matthew Broderick (who played Eugene on stage and ironically was cast in Biloxi Blues)
As Eugene's mother, Blythe Danner is one-dimensional. WHAT????? Blythe Danner one-dimensional in a movie? God, I wish I was joking. There is nothing sadder than to see an actress who is capable of bringing so much passion to a maternal role (The Great Santini, Man Woman and Child, The Invisible Circus)struggling to find this character.
The only one who more or less gets the job done is Judith Ivey as Blanche. She plays it exactly the way it should be: subtle yet passionate. She goes all out in her performance. It's all for naught.
Do I blame Neil Simon? Not at all. The material was there to begin with and it's one of the best plays I've ever read and performed (in my acting class). Do I blame Gene Saks? Not completely. Saks is a very capable director with some good films behind his belt (Mame, The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park; the latter two being two of the best Neil Simon adaptations made so far). But here, his direction is lackluster; I don't know what happened, but he fails to make this material work as well as it did on Couple and Barefoot. Maybe studio interference? Just asking.
The photography is murky and dark. I know they were trying to recreate a long gone era, but sheesh, this isn't film noir. A little brightness can go a long way.
Forget about "Brighton Beach Memoirs". You'd be much better off watching a high school or community revival than seeing this cinematic travesty.
* (out of 4 stars)
This is the film version of one of Neil Simon's very best plays. On stage, it is full of energy, wit and spunk. On film, or at least this film, it's all very flat, like day old cola.
One major problem is the casting. Jonathan Silverman is all wrong as Eugene Jerome. He's too willing to play Eugene in Jerry Lewis style. There's nothing wrong with Jerry Lewis style; I happen to love that style of comedy. But that approach just doesn't work for this play. A better choice would have been Matthew Broderick (who played Eugene on stage and ironically was cast in Biloxi Blues)
As Eugene's mother, Blythe Danner is one-dimensional. WHAT????? Blythe Danner one-dimensional in a movie? God, I wish I was joking. There is nothing sadder than to see an actress who is capable of bringing so much passion to a maternal role (The Great Santini, Man Woman and Child, The Invisible Circus)struggling to find this character.
The only one who more or less gets the job done is Judith Ivey as Blanche. She plays it exactly the way it should be: subtle yet passionate. She goes all out in her performance. It's all for naught.
Do I blame Neil Simon? Not at all. The material was there to begin with and it's one of the best plays I've ever read and performed (in my acting class). Do I blame Gene Saks? Not completely. Saks is a very capable director with some good films behind his belt (Mame, The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park; the latter two being two of the best Neil Simon adaptations made so far). But here, his direction is lackluster; I don't know what happened, but he fails to make this material work as well as it did on Couple and Barefoot. Maybe studio interference? Just asking.
The photography is murky and dark. I know they were trying to recreate a long gone era, but sheesh, this isn't film noir. A little brightness can go a long way.
Forget about "Brighton Beach Memoirs". You'd be much better off watching a high school or community revival than seeing this cinematic travesty.
* (out of 4 stars)