Very disappointing...

best movie i've ever seen.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I can still well remember the reaction that my coworker Bruce had after seeing "The Fabulous Baker Boys" on its opening day in October 1989. A later-shift worker, Bruce had caught a morning showing of the film, and that afternoon tried to get across to us, through red-faced giggles, just how hot Michelle Pfeiffer had been while singing "Makin' Whoopee." Well, it's taken me a full 22 years to catch up with this picture, but now that I have, I can finally see what all the, uh, whoopty-do was about. And yet, strangely, that by-now classic scene, with la Pfeiffer warbling and writhing atop the piano, strikes this viewer--who thinks that ANYTHING Michelle Pfeiffer does is ultrasexy--as merely more of the same. Even her "frumpy" Selena Kyle in "Batman Returns" and dressed-down, depressed waitress in "Frankie and Johnny" were, to these eyes, stunning; is it just me, or is Michelle Pfeiffer kinda good looking? To quote an old Little Richard song, more closely associated with the actress Jayne Mansfield, "the girl can't help it."Anyway, in the film in question, we meet a pair of brothers, Frank and Jack Baker (played, respectively, by Beau and Jeff Bridges), who have been doing their double-piano act professionally together for over 15 years. Though obviously hugely talented, their schmaltzy act has remained static for all that time...not that the hotel lounge and tiki bar audiences they routinely play in front of seem to notice. Older brother Frank, a happily married family man, seems content to let things go as they have been, but Jack, a chain-smoking, morose womanizer, is obviously quite unhappy; we later see that his dream is to be a jazz pianist playing more improvisatory fare. Hoping to shake up their act a bit, the team decides to hire a female singer, and after auditioning 37 dismal prospects--possibly the film's single funniest scene; cutie pie Jennifer Tilly's rendition of "Candy Man" is a hoot--finally selects a beautiful young woman whose only previous entertaining experience had been in an escort agency. She is Susie Diamond, a woman as tough, bright, priceless, multifaceted and hardheaded as her name suggests, played, of course, by our Michelle. Susie's advent, naturally, causes major changes in both the brothers' relationship and in the act itself...."The Fabulous Baker Boys" is very much a three-person story, but the film's stars have such excellent chemistry together that the viewer never minds at all. The film has a wonderfully mournful, jazzy soundtrack, courtesy of Dave Grusin, and writer/director Steve Kloves has done a fine job in both departments. His picture looks sleek and shiny, and though set in the city of Seattle, never, strangely enough, gives us a single shot of that darn Space Needle, to its credit. The film contains many memorable scenes; I love the steamy one in which Jack gives Susie a New Year's Eve back massage, the one in which Jack and Susie have it out in the street after she quits the team, and the one in which the Bakers effortlessly pound out "You're Sixteen" in Frank's garage. The acting from all three principals is of course first rate, although the picture is an especial success for Pfeiffer, who not only looks stunning and gives a deservedly Oscar-nominated performance (ultimately "losing" to Jessica Tandy's career-capper Oscar for "Driving Miss Daisy"), but also gets to demonstrate what a nice way she has with a torch song, as well. During the course of the film, the viewer is treated to the awesome spectacle of this phenomenally beautiful woman warbling such standards as "More Than You Know," "Ten Cents a Dance," "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," "The Look of Love," "My Funny Valentine," "Feelings" and, of course, "Makin' Whoopee," and she really is better than good. In a picture where all the elements come together deliciously, Michelle's supersexy singing is the yummy icing on the cake. Indeed, I find myself getting a bit red faced and giggly, a la my old work buddy Bruce, just thinking about it....

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.

If only to see this movie for one musical number, it is worth it: Michelle Pfeiffer Red evening gown Black piano New Year's Eve "Makin' Woopie"Michelle is a great compliment to the FBB's act, and she steals all the fun scenes in which she appears: The audition (this is where Jennifer Tilley makes her big screen debut) Their first performance, when she drops all the note cards and the boys start performing by themselves, until she catches up. And of course, the New year's Eve performance that had the entire audience transfixed. And don't forget, she sang all of her songs herself.

What I liked about 'The Fabulous Baker Boys' is the subtlety with which the story is presented. Writer and director Steve Kowes takes his time in telling the story but this allows the viewer to explore the layers. It gives a detailed 'profile' of the characters. The film very much is a character study as well as a story of two musician brothers. The dialogues are well written, full of wit, humour and depth. The atmosphere of music and struggling in showbiz is well created. It brings a nostalgic gloomy feel of the 70s and 80s but it ends on a positive note. The mise en scene is marvelous. The soundtrack is a classic. I loved the piano pieces and of course the famous 'Makin Whoopy' (which is beautifully shot) sung by a sensual Michelle Pfeiffer.The Bridges brothers and Ms. Pfeiffer are fantastic. The fragile relationship between the Baker brothers and the nuances and quirks are well depicted. Jeff portrays the angry quiet one who doesn't take crap from anyone and who is deeply passionate about the music while Beau is the more 'responsible' one, cleaning up the messes, booking the shows and having other priorities before music. Enters a fiery and brutally honest (but with a sense of humour) Pfeiffer who changes their lives.The story is fictional but the title gives the impression of being a biopic which it's not. On the surface 'The Fabulous Baker Boys' may look like a story about romance and a fragile relationship between two brothers but the underlying central theme is a lot darker. There was a time when the brothers shared their passion for music but along the way and throughout the years priorities changed and a resentment grew between them. It's Suzie Diamond who points that out to Jack.'The Fabulous Baker Boys' gave me more than I expected. After seeing it, I got the feeling that this was one movie I didn't know that I wanted to watch.