Piano-playing brothers Frank (middle-aged, pernickity Beau Bridges) and Jack (cool, moody Jeff Bridges) hire sexy singer Suzy (Michelle Pfiffer) to jazz up their act; that's both the premise, but also pretty much the entire plot, of 'The Fabulous Baker Boys'. In what follows, there's a few moments of nicely choreographed (though predictable) comedy, but the film's real weakness is that it seems to expect us to be sympathetic to the character of Jack, whose behaviour is consistently boorish, on the (unproven) basis of his supposed innate genius. Jeff Bridges, an actor of limited range, is well cast in the part, but it's hard to care for him; the film works hard at suggesting the idea that his life is tragic, but even if so, no-one else can be blamed for this but himself. There's no way he deserves Suzy, and boy-meets-girl films just don't work if that's how the audience feels. It's fun to see two real-life brothers play on-screen siblings; and Pfiffer is appealing (though her role is somewhat clichéd); but it sums to nothing more than ordinary entertainment.
Review of The Fabulous Baker Boys
