"Evening" features some of the biggest female stars in the biz in parts both large and minor (really cameos): Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Claire Danes, the late Natasha Richardson, Toni Colette, Mamie Gummer. It's hard to fit all of those big screen personae into one movie without making the audience feel overwhelmed. Not to mention handsome male stars like Hugh Dancy, Patrick Wilson and Barry Bostwick. Redgrave plays Ann Lord, an older woman on her deathbed in a beautiful, historic New England house. While her daughters (Richardson, her real-life daughter, and Colette) hover over her and bicker, they notice she has drifted into reverie and memories of her distant past. Much of the film's actual plot focuses on one fateful weekend 40+ years earlier, when Ann, appealingly portrayed as a willowy, spirited, aspiring nightclub singer by Danes, serves as maid of honor to her best friend, the daughter of a wealthy, uptight Newport family. The wedding weekend brings Ann unexpected passion, love, secrets revealed and tragedy, and her life subsequently takes various turns that she comes to regret. Based on the novel by Susan Minot (which was apparently quite different), "Evening" doesn't quite hit the right notes with its screenplay, which seems disjointed. The general message is that we all make choices in our lives based on what may seem right at the time, and then you must live with them. Unexpected events may make us change course or embrace different dreams from the ones we always thought were in our stars. "Evening" is stylishly filmed and features some good performances, especially Danes, who also sings very well, and Wilson, who is portrayed as the local hunk atop everyone's wish list and somehow manages not to disappoint. It's worth watching on a quiet weeknight. I think "Evening" would appeal most to a more mature audience who understands the pang of regret and loss, and the need to let things go.
