The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)

Very well executed

Don't listen to the negative reviews

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Some films are like that. It is not as if this is a masterpiece but perhaps there is some truth within the film, the acting or the relationships between the actors? Who knows.. But i do feel that films that one can revisit, even if there is nothing new to see but somehow touch you deserve a lot more than an 6.8.

Beau and Jeff Bridges, the sons of Lloyd Bridges really developed their careers apart from each other. Neither piggybacked on the other's success and while their father's name might have opened a door or two, Beau and Jeff never piggybacked on him either.When they did a joint project each had a well respected career. The Fabulous Baker Boys is about a pair of musician brothers who have a double piano act, something like Ohman&Arden from the Thirties or Jose and Ampara Iturbi, brother and sister in a more classical vein. But they're not anything as successful as the examples I mentioned. They eke out an existence in the clubs in Seattle trying to scratch a living at what they love.Beau takes a lot of guff to keep them employed as he's married with children and Jeff puts up with nothing. To liven up the act they decide a sexy girl singer is what they need and after some dismal candidates they find Michelle Pheiffer. But Michelle dishes out her own brand of guff and she causes The Fabulous Baker Boys to reexamine themselves and their lives.Pheiffer got a Best Actress nomination one of four categories of Oscar nominations the film received. She dominates the film when she's on and not through sheer beauty. It was a well deserved performance, I love the scenes when she cuts Jeff Bridges down to size. She isn't easy on Beau either.Lots of the kind of music I like, vocal and instrumental, is found in The Fabulous Baker Boys. That's a guarantee right there I would enjoy the film.It's only too bad that Beau and Jeff could not work their father into this one.

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....

The Fabulous Baker Boys is directed by Steve Kloves and stars Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jennifer Tilley. This is an underrated film about family, relationships and the power of music.Real life brothers Jeff and Beau have a lot of fun here playing struggling piano playing brothers Jack(Jeff Bridges)and Frank Baker(Beau Bridges). The pair used to be successful piano players but are now forced to play in small bars and clubs where half the time nobody is listening to them.Jack is slowly losing his patience with the whole thing until Frank has the genius idea of getting a singer to join their act.Enter Susie Diamond(Michelle Pfeiffer), a feisty New York girl who is just what they're looking for.Susie spices up the act and soon they are booked into bigger venues.Jack finds himself falling for Susie but his inability to face facts about himself and his career causes a rift between them that may not quite heal.Frank is a family man and as much as he would like to get angry at the owners of some of the venues they play in he knows he can't afford to.Jack however lives alone except for his dog Eddie and the lonely kid upstairs Nina(Ellie Raab)and doesn't have that problem,his inability to grit his teeth and smile leads to a big bust up between the brothers which threatens the entire partnership.Highlights include Jack applying Frank's spray on hair to cover a bald spot,a young Jennifer Tilley as a waitress auditioning for the brothers and giving a priceless rendition of The Candy Man,Michelle draped over a piano singing with Jeff and an hysterical fruit fight between Frank and Jack. This is a funny and touching film and Jeff, Michelle and Beau all give excellent performances, this is a film that'll brighten up your day in no time.