Recent reviews

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  Review by natebeaty ★★★

  Seattle never looked so pretty. *Saxophone solo* Sadly, the Bridges brothers can't make this snorer more than it is. Even Madonna thought the script was too mushy and declined to participate.

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  Review by Brent Paton ★★½

  Good cast. Michelle Pfeiffer is sexy. It was OK and only mildly interesting.

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  Review by Elspeth Grant ★★★½

  I think this might be my favorite 80's movie!? Michelle's performance was fantastic and I would happily watch it again.

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  Review by Bill Chambers ★★★½

  The Fabulous Baker Boys taught my friends and me a valuable lesson when we were 14: that movies can be sexy without any skin. Of course, we went right back to trolling for nudity the following week. An accomplished hyphenate debut by a filmmaker who was egregiously punished for hitting the sophomore slump with Flesh and Bone, though there's so little levity in the picture's second half that it frankly starts to chafe. (I realize now why I didn't revisit it very often in my youth.) Is the appearance of Jennifer Tilly in this movie starring the Bridges brothers some kind of meta gag?

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  Review by vgeorgie ★★★★½

  Michelle Pfeiffer is perfection, at the top of her talents, and is very well-surrounded by the Bridges'. Well-shot by Michael Ballhaus.

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  Review by kevstar ★★½

  This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  Last time I saw this was in Screen 1 of the Tyneside Cinema in about 1990. What was (and presumably still is) great about that screen was the way that it could add a certain atmosphere to films what were a bit cool and urban. 'The Fabulous Baker Boys' was one such film and I was bowled over by the music, the mood and, of course, Michelle Pfeiffer 'Makin' Whoopee.'

  All these years later I returned to the film in the comfort of my living room and whilst the music is still nice, most elements have not dated well. There is some horrendous back-projection and dialogue that is almost as obviously fake, Michelle Pfeiffer is subjected to some really quite…

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  Review by jdetrick ★★★

  The actors do a great job in this, a character piece. But it just never really connected with me. I found it slow, ponderous and at the end of the day, not very interesting.

  I feel like I've failed as a film viewer.

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  Review by Todd Willcox ★★★★½

  Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges, and Michelle Pfeiffer deliver great performances in this story of a nightclub brotherly duo who find themselves a new girl singer who revitalizes their sagging careers and gives her a new life. There's not much a plot to speak of, but who cares -- the simple story just described is about these characters and the love affair that begins between Jeff and Michelle's characters. Pfeiffer is extraordinary and had that Academy not wanted to give Jessica Tandy a lifetime achievement Oscar for her reputation as one of America's greatest actresses, Pfeiffer would have taken home a much-deserved Oscar for her portrayal of a chanteuse. Pfeiffer is perfection in the role. The film, made up of little moments of pure magic, is worth watching again and again (and I've done so myself several times over). Easily one of the best films of 1989, it belongs on everyone's must-see lists.

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  Review by Philippe Ostiguy ★★★

  There are two reasons why, still today, one should return to The Fabulous Baker Boys. One, 1989; two, Michelle Pfeiffer.

  Watching it for 1989 is perhaps a bit crooked; surely Kloves or anyone involved did not intentionally root a fundementally ageless rom-com so deeply in its era. However, instead of ageing as badly as they should have, The Fabulous Baker Boys’ dated haircuts, kitschy luxury hotels and stuffy-lounge piano tunes have inexplicably become increasingly charming over the years. Michael Ballhaus’ stunning cinematography gave Seattle an atmosphere at the perfect balance of noir and comfortable and allowed the film to become a landmark of its time, earning some sort of a cult status by way of nostalgia - nostalgia not for…