Starting Out in the Evening (2007)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Andrew Wagner

Writers:

Brian Morton (novel)
Fred Parnes (screenplay)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

An ambitious graduate student convinces a writer that her thesis can resurrect his career.

Plot Keywords:

Student | Graduate Student | Writing | Book | Writer

Awards:

2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Frank Langella	...	Leonard Schiller
Lauren Ambrose	...	Heather Wolfe
Patti Perkins	...	Dolores
Lili Taylor	...	Ariel Schiller
Adrian Lester	...	Casey Davis
Dennis Parlato	...	Author
Jeff McCarthy	...	Charles
Michael Cumpsty	...	Victor
Jessica Hecht	...	Sandra Bennett
Karl Bury	...	Frederick
Sean T. Krishnan	...	Cab Driver
Thomas Ryan	...	Nick
Anitha Gandhi	...	Chelsea
Joie Lee	...	Second Author
John C. Havens	...	Jeff the Doorman

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Canada:PG | Singapore:NC-16 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Cinetic Media

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: In the scene where Leonard goes back to apartment after stroke, as he sits in the chair there's a boom mic shadow visible on the back wall. The scene then shifts to Lili Taylor, and when it returns the shadow has gone.

Quotes:

Leonard Schiller: Freedom isn't the choice the world encourages. You have to wear a suit of armor to defend it.

Movie Connections:

References La battaglia di Algeri (1966)

Soundtrack:

Oblivion

Not for everyone

'Starting Out In The Evening' is a decidedly little movie, but it's complex, you-interpret-it subject matter has a faint whiff of Oscar bait. Frank Langella is Leonard Schiller, an elderly writer whose life is redefined by a series of interviews with young literary critic Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose). It's not much story, but my guesstimation would be this; two out of the three people going to see this one want to spend some quality time seeing Frank Langella do his thing. To those people, it's worth a look; Langella truly is a wonder, his deep, rolling diction imbuing every word with more meaning than most actors do an entire monologue. He tears into his literary debates with Ambrose, and delivers a slap in the film's final minutes that has to be the most devastating physical action in any film this year. But a great actor does not a great movie make; the thing is bogged down by the summer-winter romance that develops between Langella and Ambrose; instead of being a warm, sweet thing, it sent shockwaves of discomfort throughout the theater. And while Lili Taylor does a serviceable job as Schiller's daughter, her subplot just doesn't fit with the rest of the film. Perhaps the greatest problem is that Brian Morton's excellent novel of the same name was never meant for the screen, thus it's mediocre direction and bumpy screenplay. So, in summary, Frank Langella gives a splendid performance that makes this film better than it has any right to be.