I've seen Sarah Jessica Parker do some good work. Unfortunately, Blue Night doesn't qualify. The, ahem, stars of this movie suffer the fate that great empires suffer in their decline. They fall victim to indulging their own comfort and importance, while ignoring the effort and craft that first brought them success.
The five lead actors, JSP, Zellweger, Baker, Bisset, Kinney in Blue Night set a weak tone for eachother (props to Bisset for trying) and everything else that follows. In what should be a gripping, gritty emotionally tense drama these high profile performers lack anything near the craft to do the job.
Sarah Jessica Parker is Carrie Bradshaw, still. Flung into a story well out of her emotional depth, SJP is supposed to be feted New York singer, Vivienne, who discovers she has a terminal brain tumor. You know what the emotional hook of this drama is, for us the viewer? That she doesn't tell anyone. But that doesn't stop everyone she encounters from being infected with the ennui of her reaction to her situation. I can only imagine director, Fabian Constant, previously a TV movie documentary director, didn't have a clue about how the story and performances were coming off the screen.
And, even in our suspending disbelief, the gulf between Ms Jessica Parker as a career singer and a laudable singing artist, is laughable. Even weird, eclectic New York wouldn't bother with her performance for a minute. While the plot makes an effort to achieve something, the storyline trails weakly along until I gave up expecting anything good. There are so many soulful pauses between characters we care little or nothing about, it is about as stimulating as warm milk before bedtime.
In the hands of an actress who has built skills based on dedication to her craft, like Meryl Streep or Annette Bening, this would have been a tour de force. In the hands of a TV and Movie star who, when faced with the dramatic arc and challenges of her character, and a weak director, falls back on girly schtick that made her broadly popular on TV, it is pap. Blue Night ends up an animated Hall Mark card with disproportionately decent production values. Having said that, undemanding Sarah Jessica Parker fans will love it. They may even think it's good for them as an excuse for another night on the couch with that tub of Ben and Jerry's.
Sarah Jessica Parker is Carrie Bradshaw, still. Flung into a story well out of her emotional depth, SJP is supposed to be feted New York singer, Vivienne, who discovers she has a terminal brain tumor. You know what the emotional hook of this drama is, for us the viewer? That she doesn't tell anyone. But that doesn't stop everyone she encounters from being infected with the ennui of her reaction to her situation. I can only imagine director, Fabian Constant, previously a TV movie documentary director, didn't have a clue about how the story and performances were coming off the screen.
And, even in our suspending disbelief, the gulf between Ms Jessica Parker as a career singer and a laudable singing artist, is laughable. Even weird, eclectic New York wouldn't bother with her performance for a minute. While the plot makes an effort to achieve something, the storyline trails weakly along until I gave up expecting anything good. There are so many soulful pauses between characters we care little or nothing about, it is about as stimulating as warm milk before bedtime.
In the hands of an actress who has built skills based on dedication to her craft, like Meryl Streep or Annette Bening, this would have been a tour de force. In the hands of a TV and Movie star who, when faced with the dramatic arc and challenges of her character, and a weak director, falls back on girly schtick that made her broadly popular on TV, it is pap. Blue Night ends up an animated Hall Mark card with disproportionately decent production values. Having said that, undemanding Sarah Jessica Parker fans will love it. They may even think it's good for them as an excuse for another night on the couch with that tub of Ben and Jerry's.