Starting Out in the Evening

Starting Out in the Evening Photos

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Cast & Crew

Frank Langella

Leonard Schiller

Lauren Ambrose

Heather Wolfe

Lili Taylor

Ariel Schiller

Adrian Lester

Casey Davis

Andrew Wagner

Director

Fred Parnes

Screenwriter

Andrew Wagner

Screenwriter

Nancy Israel

Producer

Fred Parnes

Producer

Andrew Wagner

Producer

Gary Winick

Producer

Jake Abraham

Producer

Greg Moyer

Executive Producer

John Sloss

Executive Producer

Douglas Harmon

Executive Producer

Allen Myerson

Executive Producer

Harlan Bosmajian

Cinematographer

Gena Bleier

Film Editing

Adam Gorgoni

Original Music

Carol Strober

Production Design

Dara Wishingrad

Art Director

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Critic Reviews for Starting Out in the Evening

Audience Reviews for Starting Out in the Evening

• Oct 10, 2012

  In what could be considered the main theme of Starting Out The Evening, there is the well thought out and acted questions regarding the relationship between a writer and his muse. Part and parcel with this is wondering how a man who is consumed by his writing, so that he almost totally withdraws from life outside of writing, can create characters who function and are relevant in the very life he has withdrawn from. This is all fascinating stuff, and since it is embodied in yet another wonderful performance by Frank Langella, you'd think that this would be a sure fire hit. Unfortunately the script veers into a very unsatisfactory second theme involving the uneven acting of Lili Taylor as Langella's 40 year old daughter, who hears her biological clock chiming midnight. I suppose that this secondary theme shows the effects of father on daughter and juxtaposes life versus the escapism Langella has perfected, but really, I feel that all things are thusly connected and in this case the secondary story line detracts rather than augments - kind of like a very weak Greek Chorus in its attempts to bring the core drama more into focus. Essentially the main story (the one worth watching) deals with a grad student (capably portrayed by Lauren Ambrose) who is writing her thesis on Langella, a former literary giant in the twilight of his career. His early scribbles led to a cathartic experience for Ambrose, who now reveres the ground the "great man" walks on - which adds an odd, yet somehow compelling bit of Lolita and a May/December romance that makes Langella begin to question everything, including the characters and plot ark of the novel he has been working on for 10 years. There are some great truths here, and Langella is superb - totally raw beneath the veneer of his intellectual civility; and yet, somehow the entire enterprise seemed derailed by the daughters' tale. It was almost like watching two different films on two screens. One held a pretty tight narrative, with some wonderful insight, that seemed very organic, while the other was full of overly obvious setups and some badly delivered, preachy dialog. At the film's close you simply see a man at his typewriter - starting over on an enterprise he knows he will probably never finish - and yet, since the act of writing defines who and what he is, he follows that instinct, just as a salmon will return to its spawning ground - whether he has anything new to say at this juncture is left to speculation - but regardless, write he must.
  

  Super Reviewer
• May 27, 2012

  A reserved, hard-working, washed-up novelist battles age as a young grad student interviews him for her thesis and his relationship with his daughter falters because of her choice in men. Frank Langella is phenomenal in the lead role of this tightly constructed and intelligently written drama. He lets us know Leonard Schiller in little gestures like his reflexive withdraw from Heather's kiss on his hand and some of his more impulsive actions in the third act. The character's deep pain comes through Langella's reserved exterior, and the script gives us subtle moments like his prodding of Casey about "compromise." Lauren Ambrose is almost up to the task of keeping up with Langella, but it's Lili Taylor who truly rises to the challenge as this father/daughter relationship is one of the most believable I've seen on screen in a while. The film's theme focuses on what we give up to remain sane in our relationships -- all our relationships, with each other, with our work, with our hopes for the future -- and how time is the constant antagonist. I thought the film's pace slowed down in the second act, and Schiller's attraction to Heather was never fully clear. Is this a sexual relationship in the fullest sense of the word, or is it intellectual with occasional sexual trappings? And why does Heather react as she does in the third act? Overall, this film is worth seeing for Langella and for the opportunity to see an intelligent film about intelligent people, which is a rarity in this age.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Apr 04, 2009

  Wonderful performance from Frank Langella is the main attraction of this film. Slow and at times a little dull but worthwhile to watch a master at work.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Dec 19, 2008

  In "Starting out in the Evening," Leonard Schiller(Frank Langella) is an aging novelist whose novels have long been out of print and now teaches English at a university. Aiming to rectify that is Heather Wolfe(Lauren Ambrose), a graduate student at Brown University who wants to write her master's thesis on Leonard's books. At first, he is hesitant, not wanting to be distracted from work on his latest novel(for the record there is no greater distraction than a redhead), but having survived a heart attack the previous year, mortality is creeping up on him and Heather's mention of a University of Chicago Press contact strikes a chord, as does her own publishing success in a literary journal. "Starting out in the Evening" is a talky and theatrical movie that is salvaged by a marvelous performance by Frank Langella along with key support from Lili Taylor and Adrian Lester(Lauren Ambrose however does not fare as well). In fact, it is a late sequence between Langella and Lester that puts the movie in perspective. What it seeks to convey is the selfishness of writers in their solitary pursuit of glory. However, for Leonard who is reserved and shy, it is the perfect occupation. Considering he works not unlike a lot of other people to support his family, while also entertaining and enlightening the general public, how selfish can he be? Heather also made a choice between Brown University and her boyfriend back in Ohio and it is one she is happy with. And isn't having children itself selfish?
  

  Super Reviewer