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Movies / On DVD / Starting Out in the Evening
Starting Out in the Evening

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Starting Out in the Evening (2007)

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Reviews Counted:96

Fresh:83

Rotten:13

Average Rating:7.3/10

Consensus: Starting Out in the Evening features sharp dialogue and moving performances from the talented Frank Langella and Lili Taylor.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sexual content, language and brief nudity.

Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Nov 23, 2007 Limited

Box Office: $568,917

Synopsis: Though he's spent most of his career as a character actor in supporting roles, Frank Langella gives the lead performance of a lifetime in STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING, based on the novel by Brian... Though he's spent most of his career as a character actor in supporting roles, Frank Langella gives the lead performance of a lifetime in STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING, based on the novel by Brian Morton. Flanked by Lili Taylor and Lauren Ambrose, Langella is the central piece in a film that focuses on its characters. The film begins with aging writer Leonard Schiller (Langella, SUPERMAN RETURNS), a man who feels as obsolete as the typewriter he is pounding away at. Though he has four novels to his credit, he has been working on his fifth for a decade. Enter Heather Wolfe (Ambrose, SIX FEET UNDER), a grad student who plans to write her thesis on Schiller's work. She cajoles the reluctant man into helping her, and they begin a curious friendship. Meanwhile, Schiller's daughter Ariel (Taylor, SIX FEET UNDER) struggles not only with her elderly father, but also with her own desire to have children as she approaches 40. She also grapples with the decision of reconnecting with an ex-boyfriend (Adrian Lester, HUSTLE). As the fading writer Schiller, Langella doesn't give a bold performance that screams for Oscar's attention. Instead, the actor commands the screen with a quiet presence. Heather's attempts at friendship with Schiller--and eventual seduction--may feel awkward at times within the film, but Ambrose's performance is quite genuine. As always, Taylor is impressive, and it's good to see her get a heftier role. The film's other central character is New York's Upper West Side, a player that should receive top billing. Director Andrew Wagner (THE TALENT GIVEN US) allows the neighborhood to play a central role within his engaging film. [More]

Starring: Frank Langella, Lili Taylor, Lauren Ambrose, Adrian Lester

Starring: Frank Langella, Lili Taylor, Lauren Ambrose, Adrian Lester, Jessica Hecht

Director: Andrew Wagner

Director: Andrew Wagner
Screenwriter: Andrew Wagner, Fred Parnes
Producer: Gary Winick, Jake Abraham, Fred Parnes, Andrew Wagner
Composer: Adam Gorgoni
Producer: Nancy Israel
Studio: Roadside Attractions

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Release:

Apr 22, 2008

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Reviews for Starting Out in the Evening

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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ut when all is finally revealed it’s gesture—especially the hands—that lifts this film into the ranks of extraordinary and ... bears repeated viewings to savour the subtlety and intimate sense of self.

Full Review Source: JWR | comment Comment
07/23/09
S. James Wegg
S. James Wegg
JWR

Starting Out in the Evening has a formidable performance by Frank Langella to recommend it.

Full Review Source: Fayetteville Free Weekly | comment Comment
02/02/09
Tony Macklin
Tony Macklin
Fayetteville Free Weekly
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/18/08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
10/18/08
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A bravura performance from Frank Langella blended into a lackluster story.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
09/30/08
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

Awkward and sometimes overly subtle, but compelling performances by a cast of normally supporting actors who make the most of their much deserved chance to carry a film.

Full Review Source: Spectrum (St. George, Utah) | comment Comment
07/19/08
Bruce Bennett
Bruce Bennett
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
04/03/08
Boxoffice Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Wagner has turned the page on a promising career, and it will be exciting to see what the next chapter brings.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
02/28/08
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
02/26/08
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Starting Out in the Evening is thrilling in a way that a movie larded with car chases and explosions can seldom be, because of the way it deals with that basic building block of civilization, the creative process.

Full Review Source: Film.com | comment Comment
02/24/08
Jonathan F. Richards
Jonathan F. Richards
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Criminally overlooked, this is a great movie, about which I could find no complaint or overt flaw except feeling that Taylor (whom I do love) was mostly a distraction. See it if you can.

Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment Comment
02/16/08
Karina Montgomery
Karina Montgomery
Cinerina

Langella's nuanced performance saves the film; the actor has an understated but powerful role, and he takes full advantage.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
02/08/08
Connie Ogle
Connie Ogle
Miami Herald

Wagner's film is an elegy of sorts for that once-mighty beast known as the New York Writer, a creature that now finds itself increasingly marginalized in a world in which readers are getting scarcer and shelf space for serious fiction is dwindling daily.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
02/08/08
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

It's Langella's performance that anchors the film.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
02/07/08
Bill Goodykoontz
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

By and large, Starting Out in the Evening is smart and considered and grown-up and credibly human filmmaking.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
02/01/08
Shawn Levy
Shawn Levy
Oregonian

Just may be the best film of 2007 that you've probably never heard of.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
01/30/08
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Starting Out in the Evening is just a movie about a dignified old white man who writes novels, slowly, on a typewriter. Clever concept.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
01/23/08
Jonathan Kiefer
Jonathan Kiefer
Sacramento News & Review

What to do with this light, while it lasts? [Director] Wagner's problem is to find an answer to that question and also to offer some resolution to the conflicts of honesty and compromise the movie portrays.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
01/18/08
Philip Marchand
Philip Marchand
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A dry, insightful and sensitive drama.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
01/18/08
Jim Slotek
Jim Slotek
Jam! Movies

A strong cast and a literate script make for a refreshingly subtle film.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
01/18/08
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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