The Morning After (1986)

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This movie once again proves that Jane Fonda is simply the best actress alive today. She will always be remembered in the same way Bette Davis or Katherine Hepburn is remembered. Her performance here is stunning, and there is no doubt that she is the best thing about this film. I don't think Jane Fonda is capable of giving a bad performance, although her choices of film roles is sometimes questionable. Fonda plays a down-at-the-heels actress who used-to-almost-be a star, but wound up playing to a bottle of Thunderbird. Now a hopeless boozer, one step away from homelessness, she blacks out and wakes up in bed next to a stiff with serious heart-trouble: A butcher knife in his chest. Enough to give anyone the DTs... Jeff Bridges is a disabled marginally-functional ex-cop who takes in stray lushes; the perfect foil for Fonda's neurotically manic but sympathetic character.The suspense is fairly well placed, if at times heavy-handed, the plot thickening when a sympathetic former cop, Turner Kendall (Jeff Bridges) comes onto the scene who may or may not be trustworthy. Fonda's scene with Bridges over an impromptu dinner is simply superb where she says, "I used to be an actress," her biting sarcasm mixed with self-pitying pathos and bile. The interior sets are perfectly designed and decorated. An apartment all in Mauve with matching furniture and a glowing turquoise pool beyond a balcony. Buildings in Yellow and Red. Everything designed to draw you in. There are times when the dialogue seems a bit cheesy and dated but it is so much fun watching Jane here I don't care. I dig this out once a year to watch and I think most Fonda fans will love it.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

This has to be one of the worst films ever made. As I sat through it I kept asking myself why am I watching it? Maybe I wanted to know for sure that it was actually as bad as I thought it was. And it was. I was a big fan of Jeff Bridges but not really for any of his films and certainly not this one - I just always liked him probably because I liked his dad so much. But I actually thought that Jane Fonda's role was absolutely laughable. She was completely unbelievable as was Raul Julia. Casting against type never works and it definitely does not work here. And the fact that Sidney Lumet directed this mish-mash is the biggest shock of all. One wonders how so much talent could be utterly wasted in so much tripe. Actually, the most interesting performance, I thought, was by Diane Salinger who I remember most vividly from the film whereas everyone else sort of washes out. I looked up Salinger and learned that she has an acting academy in Los Angeles which makes perfect sense since she really shines in this catastrophe.

She is believable and sympathetic as has-been actress Viveca Van Loren (aka Alexandra Sternhagen).Basically waking (after a drunken binge) to find herself next to a murdered man, the story sets a fast pace in the beginning. There is suspense here. Raul Julia as her ex-husband Joaquim Manero, who is on the periphery of her life, seemingly to help.Jeff Bridges as Turner, a disabled detective from nether world (Bakersfield) a bit exaggerated theme here, he is a country bumpkin, he has skewed values, but he does try to help Fonda sort the pieces of her life. The neurotic desperation Fonda brings to the role is palpable. Turner cooks her a dinner for Thanksgiving. It is L.A., she is a failed actress who has seen better days- she still loves her ex-husband who has already moved to greener (and richer) pastures.Raul Julia is a Vidal Sassoon like character. Indeed the final scenes were shot at the former Sassoon boutique, in full 80's glory; peaches and teals, chrome and glitz. The cinematography as mentioned is noteworthy here. Blazing hot sun, disordered lives, senseless murder. We get a feel for the L.A. of the 80's when as Jeff Bridges character remarks that he should have bought more land... could have cashed in on my retirement.He too is a detective for which the world no longer has a use for. There are some touching scenes, such as when Fonda is hiding out at his apartment, her life is a shambles, she is an alcoholic, accused of murder. Or is she being framed? While the ending is a bit formulaic, Fonda's performance outweighs this, and she is well worth watching. 8/10.

Overripe concoction in a shiny, sterile package. Jane Fonda plays a glamorously burnt-out alcoholic in Los Angeles who wakes up one morning after a bender and discovers a bloody corpse next to her in bed. Jeff Bridges (talking slowly with narrowed eyes) is an ex-cop who helps Fonda piece together the previous night's events. Soaper-cum-mystery-thriller, directed by an uninspired Sidney Lumet, defies logic and credibility at nearly every turn. Fonda works hard to elevate the proceedings, and received a surprising Oscar nod for her efforts, but she can't overcome the clumsiness of the plot's conception (nor the lousy screenplay). A huge disappointment for noir buffs. *1/2 from ****