Memorable, crazy movie

A Masterpiece!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It's 1938 Albany, NY. Francis Phelan (Jack Nicholson) is a former baseball player and a drunken drifter. His friend Rudy (Tom Waits) is dying of cancer. He visits his son's grave lamenting accidentally killing him after four beers. He abandoned his family many years ago. He finds his drinking buddy Helen Archer (Meryl Streep) at the mission. He is haunted by three ghosts including a scab (Nathan Lane) he killed as a striking trolley worker and a hobo who tried to chop off his feet. He visits his wife Annie Phelan (Carroll Baker).Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep get to do some good acting. The story meanders quite a lot. It's not a plot where there is a place to go. I guess Francis does have a destination and possibly salvation. The main problem for me is that Nicholson and Streep separate midway through the movie. Streep is late to the movie to begin with. This needs both great actors together for the whole movie.

Even with the likes of Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, this loser doesn't click with me. Like watching rich people going out and pretending they're hobos. Slow moving and almost predictable. Nicholson seems to be wandering around in this one trying to find something to do with his role. Streep, with her usual facial maneuvering overdoes it. She fidgets, she shakes, she sings, she has fits here and there and seems to be going nowhere with her character. I got so bored watching this I kept jumping ahead to find something worthwhile to watch. But always coming to these two wandering.I don't know what this film is supposed to do. What message it is saying. For certainly the stars didn't know. Sorry, I guess I am the only one that found these two, supposedly great actors, flopped in this silly movie.

After seeing the two starring actors listed as the top billings in this high rated film, I felt intrigued to view it... so I did. Little did I know I was in for one of the most depressing films of all time with some of the strongest acting ever put forth. Jack Nicholson, as always, puts on a performance for the ages, earning him his well deserved Oscar Nomination. The sinful part, however, is that Meryll Streep did not win her Oscar Nomination. With flawless ease, Streep carried her character through triumph (the one or two we see) and tragedy, letting every moment live inside each viewer. After speaking so highly of this film, you would think I would strongly recommend it. Yet, I would not recommend this film simply because it is just too dark with far too few bright spots. This incredible film deserves to be seen, and if you are just a movie-goer who enjoys a film with more to offer than meets the eye, this is the movie for you. Don't expect to be happy after the film, though - despite the beautiful performances put on by all. Brilliant movie on all accounts. With a few more bright spots, this would be a guaranteed 10/10 film. B+

Cold, desolate in the surface and an uncomfortable warmth in the inside. Meryl Streep leads in a way that is difficult to explain. She provides a truly magic movie moment when she sings "He's My Pal" for her supper. For a moment we live her fantasy. Her moment is our moment, that's why as the song and the fantasy ends something inside me cracked. I felt tears running down my face and, I swear, I wasn't ready for that. The humanity of Meryl Streep, the actress, filters through the devastating circumstances of her character. Circumstances that, by the time we meet her, are already a way of life. At the beginning of the film, when somebody asks her how is she, her reply is "Delightful". Trying to adjust to this character I listen to her stained, tired voice, trying to be heard and I did, heard her. I love Meryl Streep.