I was going to do a review of the Evening trailer last month, but I just couldn’t get into it enough to think of anything to say. But I was still willing to give the movie a chance. The list of actresses appearing in it is unbelievably impressive: Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Claire Danes, Toni Collette, and Glenn Close. With a pedigree like that, it’s bound to be a good movie, right? Sure, the trailer was a bit of a snoozer, but it must be pretty hard to make a trailer for a movie about a dying woman waxing poetic about a lost love seem exciting. It’s not like there are any high-speed car chases or random acts of violence to liven things up. This was going to be a quiet drama, with lots of talking, female bonding, and tear-jerking scenes. Nothing wrong with that. Some of my favorite movies are quiet, talky dramas where not a whole lot “happens.”

Unfortunately, Evening will never be one of those quiet films I love, since it is such an utterly horrendous piece of crap. I was going to add it to my Netflix queue, but then I received a pair of free passes for a screening last week. Never being one to turn down anything free, I went, and spent two hours fighting the urge to stab myself in the eye just so something interesting would happen.

As predicted, it was a quiet, talky drama where not a whole lot happened. But instead of the lack of action being compensated with interesting relationships, witty dialogue, or touching moments, it was compensated with nothing. The story was trite and unbelievable. The lost love Redgrave reminisces about for the entire movie is essentially a one-night stand she has with a gorgeous man she just met at her friend’s wedding. There is no connection or spark between them and no reason for the audience to believe they should have ended up together. There’s a jilted wannabe lover that we’re meant to feel bad for, but he’s too annoying and one-dimensional to even care about. In fact, everything in this movie is too annoying and one-dimensional to care about. So I’m not even going to talk about it anymore. SKIP IT.

Evening is rated PG-13 and opened June 29. (Official site)

I finally saw Little Miss Sunshine recently, and I am happy to report that all the rave reviews in the trailer are completely accurate. There were several points where Jared and I were literally laughing out loud. The trailer reveals just enough and doesn’t reveal any of the hilarious secrets of the movie. Little Miss Sunshine just opened nationwide, hurry up and see it.

Previously: Little Miss Sunshine trailer

When young Olive unexpectedly gets a slot in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, her dysfunctional family piles into a vintage VW bus to cheer her on. All the buzz (that I skimmed anyway) coming out of the Sundance Film Festival in January was all about Little Miss Sunshine. By the Oscars in March, presenter Steve Carell was already being touted as a potential nominee for next year’s awards. Rave reviews are packed into this trailer. And best of all the movie looks like a funny, feel-good flick, and those are always my favorites. It times like that I’m glad I live in New York and I get to see these great films weeks ahead of middle America. See it, See it, See it.

(Official Site)