Jeffrey Redmond

silly follow-up to the much better original contains what may be the largest fly head prop in cinema history. I thought the actor wearing it was going to tip over from having it on.

okay jill clayburgh film that I recall enjoying in my teens, but now it feels very bland and unmoving. I didn't like any of the characters, except erica's daughter patti. lisa lucas, who portrayed her, gives the best performance in the picture - she should have been onscreen longer. halfway thru the story, erica meets an equally bland artist and goes to bed with him, and here's where the movie comes to a screeching halt and never recovers. the editing too moves their supposed romance way too quickly, especially after their initial meeting, so there's no time to see their love progress naturally, and in mere minutes, they're talking about their future lives together, as if they've known each other for years. clayburgh is in every scene too and after a while, I found myself not enjoying her presence, so it was hard for me to care where her character was going. overall, it was probably best to see this when it first came out. today, it's nothing very special, and should best be forgotten as a relic of its time

having grown up in the timeframe this was set in made this even more involving for me. devastating and subtle within seconds, with one of the most heart-breaking final fade-outs in cinema history. perfect, well-chosen cast

perennial turkey day fav, heavy on the unflinching reality. some funny moments, then lots of uncomfortable ones - kind of like in life. patricia clarkson copped on oscar nom in the best supporting actress category for her work, playing a character who's, quite frankly, not always nice. katie holmes shines quirkily in the lead. her all-movie attempts to get the thanksgiving dinner ready on time are both amusing, and anxiety-inducing... the food barely looks appetizing, but that's part of the unsettling charm of this one. loved all the surrounding apartment building tenants , too, who are just as realistically presented as everything else in the plot. I'm sure I'll plug this in again next year

spot on masterwork from the famous bros. zany hijinks galore. the laughs start fast, and continue all the way to the last shot. and what a trouper margaret dumont was. she deserves a statue built in her honor for putting up with these guys and their wackiness...

one of Hepburn and Tracy's best. very incisive script too, by garson and ruth. they hit all the right chords with this classic. loved judy holliday in all her scenes...

I'm only giving this a three-star rating because I like Bette Davis in it. Everyone else is just so-so, although the old-timer playing the grandpa is a pip. Bogie, in one of his first major roles, seems a bit over-reaching as the bad guy. (it's like he's trying too hard to be tough.) However, the real cement block sinking this whole experience is the dialogue that Leslie Howard keeps spouting. It becomes very grating after a while, to the point you can't wait for the predictable conclusion. Kind of disappointing, as it starts out pretty well, too, but halfway through the story, things fall apart, and I found myself not really caring for anyone on screen. I really like old black and white movies, but some of them don't hold up that greatly, and this is one prime example of that. Overall, Howard will get on your nerves the more he speaks, when Bogart isn't busy over-doing the whole gangster bit... until everything just feels rather pointless. Try Key Largo instead. It had basically the same plot but was executed 600 times better than this.

i can't get over how bad this movie is. there is NO momentum to anything. it's as dead as the main character's behavior. i get that she's numb on grief but the things she does and gets away with are inexplicable, and no one reacts to them in any credible, realistic way, which means she's not held accountable for any of it. the meandering confusing half-done screenplay gallingly won an oscar too. why and how? i was expecting some kind of gritty revenge piece but i guess i missed any of the reasons why this was made and then insanely praised. a protagonist you could care less about and a cast of other characters even less appealing made me wish an asteroid had taken all of them out half-way through the picture. if this is what passes for movie-making these days, i'll stick to the stuff i grew up on, thanks. watch a well-made western instead, if the PC crowd doesn't attack you for liking them anymore.