lasttimeisaw
Writer-director Steve Kloves' directorial debut, a jazz-infused drama-romance, under musician Dave Grunion's precise concoction, now mostly remembered for Ms. Pfeiffer's Oscar-calibre bravura as the escort-turned-torch-song-chanteuse Susie Diamond. Beau and Jeff Bridges, two real-life brothers play Frank and Jack Baker, aka. the Fabulous Baker Boys, two brothers-and- pianists in Seattle, make their living by performing in various lounges and bars.For the first time in their 15-year professional career, they decide to recruit a singer to revitalise their act since the business is going downhill, there comes Susie Diamond, but, Ms. Pfeiffer is not a professional singer in reality (although she has been preparing for the role diligently), the singing voice is not her forte, in order to introduce her as the one that surpasses all other candidates, Kloves sets the ballast with a joyously motley crew of awful singers, started with Jennifer Tilly's Monica, whose audition with her peculiar baby-like voice can bust a gut here! Thus, when Susie comes to the scene (hours later), even though her tonality is not instantly sensational (there is no A STAR IS BORN hoopla), at least she can find the right tune and more importantly, she is a natural showstopper, her sensual voice enthuses audience, her svelte figure enthrals impulse and attention, with a fitting evening dress, they can form a killing trio, for the populist taste.Ms. Pfeiffer's iconic rendition of MAKIN' WHOOPEE atop of a grand piano with DP Michael Ballhaus' camera entrancingly rotating around her, can simply bring the house down. A central through-line is the romantic vibe between Susie and Jack, the unvarying trope about sex and commitment, which doesn't establish Susie as a woman waiting for the man to make his move or bemoaning his inaction, she feels the attraction with a man who tries very hard to be detached from the entire world, and doesn't shy away from taking the initiative at the right time, right place. Susie pluckily takes Jack down a peg or two in his self-loathing and self-centred universe, she is empowered to liberate him, but she also doesn't have to do so if he doesn't realise that, and through Pfeiffer's tour-de-force, Susie is a woman ever so confident, sexy and desirable, frankly speaking, from a more personal note, she is too good for Jack and Ms. Pfeiffer's magnetism in unparalleled in her heyday.Jeff Bridges's Jack, who is the quintessence of a man who arms himself with aloofness because he has too much pride to come to terms with this unfulfilled world, he is more talented, more good- looking, also more cynical and more uncompromising than his elder brother, for him, it is always his battle against the rest of the world, and the winning sign is that he can sleep around without any pretence of commitment and play the cool unattainable object of desire, thanks to Kloves' sober script and Jeff Bridge's unaffected endeavour, viewers can totally understand Jack's dilemma without being too judgemental, he grows extremely fatigued of the routinely middle-brow entertainment, but also too passive to pursue what he really wants (he should be adored for his faculties, instead of being stuck in a pedestrian livelihood for far too long, if in a perfect world), all he needs is a stimulant to get out of his self-inflicted carapace, he and Susie would be a good match, but more urgently, he must earn it rather than take it for granted.Beau Bridges, who is also brilliant in his family-man amiability and flexible pragmatism, by sheer comparison, he is less charismatic than his co-stars, but he bespeaks a more mainstream attitude towards life, a respected breadwinner for his household, the part where Baker brothers finally duke it out is a heightened moment of spectacle, the accusations they deliver are unsurprisingly stale, but the way how they unbridle their yearly-accrued disgruntlement is plum theatrics.After all, THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS is an appealing charmer despite of its rather simple story structure, sends off a life-affirming message without being tempering with contrived wishful fulfilment, a feat cannot always be pulled off without a level-headed decision maker behind, plus, who can resist a fully-blossoming Michelle Pfeiffer? No one can.
Mr-Fusion
What was really surprising about "The Fabulous Baker Boys" (a pleasant one) is that Michelle Pfeiffer can actually sing. Everyone knows this movie for her slinky performance on Jeff Bridges' piano, but I'd always just assumed she was dubbed over. She's got a nice voice. And going beyond just that scene, Pfeiffer has never been such a head-turner as she is here. My god, she is sexy in this movie.It's not an easy movie to sit through, seeing as it details the ark side of show biz. Tensions show themselves from minute one, and just bubble throughout until they come to a head. Twice. There are two altercations in the story that are just painful (between Jeff and Michelle, and then Jeff and Beau). Speaking of the brothers Bridges, if that counts as stunt casting, then it's necessary. I don't think you could tell this story with unrelated actors. The real-life siblings bring a realism to this that heightens the emotion.Rough movie, but a beautiful family story. Bittersweet to the end.8/10
Robert J. Maxwell
Not the musical you might expect. I don't think I heard a single song sung or played from beginning to end, just snatches or noodling on the keys. There is no score, only source music and it runs to traditional older pop tunes.The Fabulous Baker Boys is an act consisting of two brothers, Beau and Jeff Bridges, who play dual pianos in various not-too-high-end Seattle night clubs. They've been playing together, the same songs in the same lounges, for fifteen years and they're getting pretty fagged out with the routine.So they audition a couple of dozen singers and wind up with the tarty Michelle Pfeiffer. Well, if you must have a vocalist who used to be a whore, it might as well look like Pfeiffer. Her singing voice is close to indifferent but what does it matter? However -- cherchez la femme. Beau may be married and tied down, but the younger and rather morose Jeff is not. Jeff lives on a diet of cocktail waitresses and pretty soon, against Beau's admonitions, Jeff and Michelle are a couple, at least for two nights, but their future together hangs in the air like an unspoken question. Pfieffer isn't the cause of the argument, just a catalyst. The wind up is that The Fabulous Baker Boys separate and go their independent ways -- Beau to giving piano lessons to the neighborhood kids, Jeff to irregular gigs in small clubs where he is allowed to play the kind of music he likes.What kind of music does he like? It's bluesier and jazzier than the easy listening he's used to playing, but it reaches for Beegie Adair, not Oscar Peterson. Pfeiffer catches a glimpse of him alone playing his own style and Bridges' looks transported, though he's not bent over the piano in a Steven Hawkings posture like Bill Evans.I don't think there are too many surprises in store for an experienced viewer. Jeff is moody and unresponsive from the outset, so we know he's due for a committed relationship soon. When Pfeiffer shows up, we know what shape that commitment is liable to take. Beau is the most amusing of the three principals, a worrier who tears his hair out over small details, and there are some amusing gags built into the script and the dialog.In fact, it's nicely written. The story doesn't take us into unexplored territory but it's easy on the eyes and ears and overall rather diverting. I know this is going to derail the essay but, speaking of unexplored territory, the title for this review came from an experience I had many moons ago in San Diego, reading a book by Andrew Dickson White (first president of the college I was to attend two years later) called "On The Warfare of Science and Theology in Christendom", while listening to Anita O'Day sing a pop tune on the radio. And as my eyes skimmed White's words on the page -- "the music of the spheres" -- the same words were repeated in synchrony by the lyrics in the song, as if Anita O'Day were reading the text aloud. THAT is what I'd call "unexplored territory." Look out, now.
Al Rodbell
This could have been a gimmick that didn't work. Just because two actors are actual brothers doesn't mean they can convey the particular fictional brothers of the film. And this film was about the two men, with a mutual affection and dependency that they never had to articulate, until the need for a "girl singer" became evident.And what a singer they got in Michelle Pheiffer's Susie Diamond. The hard boiled prostitute with a heart of gold is a well worn cliché in films, that takes some genuine writing and acting talent to transcend. Pheiffer did this with a seeming effortlessness that defined Susie as a unique individual.Unlike most successful films this one's achievement lies in its very moderation, its telling only enough of each character's life to make them real. So we never meet Beau's family, even though Jeff has a key scene in his basement. It would have only been diverting at this stage of the film.The relationship between Susie and Jeff Bridges, Jack Baker was also just as much as we needed to know. The mixed feelings of their first sexual liaison as a trade off of a good business relationship for a long shot love affair was perfectly demonstrated in both of them in their own rooms expressing with the same tone, "shit!" I saw this film on TV after seeing it first at a theater some two decades ago. Perhaps, I'm older, or I've seen too many less skillfully crafted films in the interim, but I appreciated it even more this time.This is both a quality film, and damn enjoyable evening's entertainment.
