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Trust Weighted
Perfect
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66Trust Points
Wick's Review
Summary - Perfect 5.0
LOL funny, bracingly cool, drop-dead gorgeous – The Fabulous Baker Boys scores across the board, a retro treat of romantic heat, musical standards and moviestar glamour.
Its glamour begins when Jeff Bridges dons a tux after a one-night-stand, and spikes when Michelle Pfeiffer arrives in the wrong size-six dress, soon exchanging it for a series of oh-so-right ones. The WikChip’s got her in a little crimson number legendarily performing Makin’ Whoopee. Earlier in the movie she belts out the “I Love You Baby” chorus from Can’t Take My Eyes Off You in a fast cut of hot dresses, each more fabuloso than before. Ravishing.
Jeff Bridges, icon of the slovenly 60s generation, stars as a brilliant practitioner, a player of standards. Standards are rarely played slovenly. Of course the FBBs – a 40s act set in the 80s – pretend like the 60s, 70s and 80s never happened. Jeff Bridges in an act that missed the 60s and 70s? Reverse type-casting, this.
Crimson hot from Jack Baker & Susie Diamond’s romance, Los Fabulosos Baker Boys is an all-time great date movie, one that can be watched time after time as a timeless Hollywood standard.
Acting - Perfect 5.0
Bridges & Pfeiffer at their peaks, she thirty, he forty, both lean, lithe and full maned. His hair – a pompadour for the ages – is even better than her’s. Other than that, Pfieffer outshines him: pipes, can, charisma. No star ever shone brighter.
Beau Bridges deftly plays the older Baker Boy, a bit of casting that makes the movie all the more intriguing given that it could just as well be seen as The Fabulous Bridges Boys. The elder Bridges brings perfect timing, touch and pathos to the somewhat thankless role of a somewhat ridiculous character.
Male Stars - Perfect 5.0
Female Stars - Perfect 5.0
Female Costars - Perfect 5.0
Male Costars - Perfect 5.0
Film - Really Great 4.5
Writer-director Steve Kloves seems to have conceived his masterpiece by starting with real life trumpet idol Chet Baker, moving him to the piano, naming him Jack and giving him a lesser older brother. It worked.
Direction - Perfect 5.0
Dialogue - Great 4.0
Great fights, between the brothers and between Jack & Susie.Music - Perfect 5.0
Dave Grusin mixes in several pop numbers to go with the standards in his Oscar nominated score. Highlights include _Can't Take My Eyes Off You_, _The Girl From Ipanema,_ and of course _Makin' Whoopee._ Credit also to Grusin for playing Jeff Bridges' masterful piano parts.Visuals - Perfect 5.0
Check out the earrings Michelle's got on in the WikChip.Edge - Risqué 2.1
Movies get no sexier than FBB, maybe because it’s more tease than consummation. Old school once again.
Sex Erotic 2.6
Violence Gentle 1.4
Rudeness Salty 2.3
Reality - Glib 1.5
A formal piano act making a living in Seattle area lounges during the grunge 80s? Not too damn likely.