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More often than not, when a movie gets panned, there’s a good reason. It deserves it. It isn’t any good. But occasionally I am baffled when a perfectly good movie goes down in history as a bad one.
A great example is Everybody Wins, 1990, starring Nick Nolte, Debra Winger, Jack Warden, Judith Ivey, Frank Military, Will Patton and Frank Converse. Directed by Karel Reisz, no slouch. Written by Arthur “Death of a Salesman” Miller. It bombed when released, was ignored by critics (other than Pauline Kael) has enjoyed no reappraisal that I am aware of, and limps in with a shockingly low 5.1 rating on IMDb.
I do understand why it bombed at the box office. It’s a murder mystery called Everybody Wins. That’s a terrible title. Audiences want to be taken on a journey where the ending isn’t a foregone conclusion. It would be like titling Knives Out (Spoilers!) Chris Evans Did It. Or Star Wars, Vader is Luke’s Dad.
But once one gets past the weak title, this is a gripping slow burn that truly keeps you guessing. I’m a Debra Winger fan. After Urban Cowboy, An Officer and a Gentleman and Terms of Endearment, she was as big a star as there was on the planet. Then her career wobbled and never fully recovered, but I consider Everybody Wins to be part of her peak period as an actress.
She’s a classic femme fatale who ensnares Nolte’s PI in her web with ease. She has taken an active interest in proving the innocence of a young man convicted of murdering his uncle. It is not at all clear if Winger is manipulating events or mentally unbalanced. That’s the fun of the performance. She makes some bold choices.
Nolte’s great here too. He knows she’s trouble with a capital T and withholding vital information, but he’s a lonely guy with a goofy haircut and goes along with it against his better judgment, because she’s the most exciting thing that’s likely going to ever happen to him. Together, they’re dynamite. Two great actors going at it. I truly do not understand the IMDb comments saying they have no chemistry.
This is one of those movies with a great small-town feel. There’s a creeping sense of unease throughout, and one particularly ominous location where the bikers, led by Will Patton (who’s tremendously menacing) have their den.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Normally in crime movies, the hero either exposes all the corruption and brings the evildoers to justice, or in noir, he/she (it’s usually a he) goes down trying, winding up behind bars or dead. Everybody Wins is unique in that the hero learns about the (very deep) corruption and is helpless against it. He scores a partial victory in freeing the innocent young man accused of murder, but the rest of the evil machinery remains in place, virtually untouched. And while Nolte is irked about this, it doesn’t seem like he’s going to lose much sleep over it. The movie ends with kind of a shrug. This no doubt puts off viewers who desire a more concrete resolution. But director Reisz and writer Miller seem to be saying: no, this is what life is really like. We fight corruption when we can and hope for the best but all we can really do is chip away at it. Evil is too entrenched to defeat overnight. Or even over two hours’ running time.
Anyway, that’s my take. Are there any other movies you think need to be rescued from bad opinions?
A great example is Everybody Wins, 1990, starring Nick Nolte, Debra Winger, Jack Warden, Judith Ivey, Frank Military, Will Patton and Frank Converse. Directed by Karel Reisz, no slouch. Written by Arthur “Death of a Salesman” Miller. It bombed when released, was ignored by critics (other than Pauline Kael) has enjoyed no reappraisal that I am aware of, and limps in with a shockingly low 5.1 rating on IMDb.
I do understand why it bombed at the box office. It’s a murder mystery called Everybody Wins. That’s a terrible title. Audiences want to be taken on a journey where the ending isn’t a foregone conclusion. It would be like titling Knives Out (Spoilers!) Chris Evans Did It. Or Star Wars, Vader is Luke’s Dad.
But once one gets past the weak title, this is a gripping slow burn that truly keeps you guessing. I’m a Debra Winger fan. After Urban Cowboy, An Officer and a Gentleman and Terms of Endearment, she was as big a star as there was on the planet. Then her career wobbled and never fully recovered, but I consider Everybody Wins to be part of her peak period as an actress.
She’s a classic femme fatale who ensnares Nolte’s PI in her web with ease. She has taken an active interest in proving the innocence of a young man convicted of murdering his uncle. It is not at all clear if Winger is manipulating events or mentally unbalanced. That’s the fun of the performance. She makes some bold choices.
Nolte’s great here too. He knows she’s trouble with a capital T and withholding vital information, but he’s a lonely guy with a goofy haircut and goes along with it against his better judgment, because she’s the most exciting thing that’s likely going to ever happen to him. Together, they’re dynamite. Two great actors going at it. I truly do not understand the IMDb comments saying they have no chemistry.
This is one of those movies with a great small-town feel. There’s a creeping sense of unease throughout, and one particularly ominous location where the bikers, led by Will Patton (who’s tremendously menacing) have their den.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Normally in crime movies, the hero either exposes all the corruption and brings the evildoers to justice, or in noir, he/she (it’s usually a he) goes down trying, winding up behind bars or dead. Everybody Wins is unique in that the hero learns about the (very deep) corruption and is helpless against it. He scores a partial victory in freeing the innocent young man accused of murder, but the rest of the evil machinery remains in place, virtually untouched. And while Nolte is irked about this, it doesn’t seem like he’s going to lose much sleep over it. The movie ends with kind of a shrug. This no doubt puts off viewers who desire a more concrete resolution. But director Reisz and writer Miller seem to be saying: no, this is what life is really like. We fight corruption when we can and hope for the best but all we can really do is chip away at it. Evil is too entrenched to defeat overnight. Or even over two hours’ running time.
Anyway, that’s my take. Are there any other movies you think need to be rescued from bad opinions?
