Starting Out in the Evening (2007)

86% of critics liked it
(98 reviews)
69% of users liked it
(3,249 ratings)

Frank Langella (Dracula, Good Night, and Good Luck.) stars in Andrew Wagner's independent drama Starting Out in the Evening, an adaptation of the acclaimed 1999 best-seller by Brian Morton. Langella plays Leonard Schiller, a once-celebrated author whose first four novels inspired Heather Wolfe… More Frank Langella (Dracula, Good Night, and Good Luck.) stars in Andrew Wagner's independent drama Starting Out in the Evening, an adaptation of the acclaimed 1999 best-seller by Brian Morton. Langella plays Leonard Schiller, a once-celebrated author whose first four novels inspired Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose) to pursue a career as a writer. These days, Leonard is still working toward completion of the novel that has occupied his life for nearly a decade. On the surface, Leonard has removed himself completely from the deep-seated need for success that characterized his life at an earlier point in time; but on a more buried level, he still longs for his fiction to be rediscovered and re-acclaimed. Now an eager graduate student in the throes of her thesis, Heather is writing her dissertation on Schiller, and promptly convinces him that she can use the thesis to regenerate popularity and discovery of his work. Heather also projects personal interest in Leonard, however, which cuts straight through to the core of his loneliness and brings him in touch with his need for a meaningful relationship even as it leaves him feeling shaken and increasingly uncertain. Meanwhile, Leonard finds that his relationship with his daughter, Ariel (Lili Taylor), is challenged, both by Heather's presence and by Ariel's decision to begin dating her former boyfriend Casey (Adrian Lester) once again -- a fact that Leonard finds most upsetting thanks to his disapproval of Casey. Suddenly, Leonard feels his entire world turned upside down, from his familial relationships to the security of his writing to his own physical vitality -- but he is also taking risks and plunging headfirst into the core of life for the first time, thus living out the principles long celebrated and upheld in his fiction and giving himself the capacity to grow. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 50 min.
Directed By: Andrew Wagner
Written By: Andrew Wagner, Fred Parnes
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Nov 23, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Apr 22, 2008
Studio: Roadside Attractions

Critic Reviews

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com
Starting Out in the Evening is thrilling in a way that a movie larded with car chases and explosions can seldom be, because of the way it deals with that basic building block of civilization, the creative process.
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
It's Langella's performance that anchors the film.
Philip Marchand, Toronto Star
What to do with this light, while it lasts? [Director] Wagner's problem is to find an answer to that question and also to offer some resolution to the conflicts of honesty and compromise the movie portrays.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
A strong cast and a literate script make for a refreshingly subtle film.
David Denby, New Yorker
Langella is superb, and Starting Out in the Evening is a classy film... but it could have used a little less circumspection, a little more juice.
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
We're pretty much left waiting in this drifting melodrama about living the artistic life in New York and the ambition it takes to do that.
Don Groves, sbs.com.au
An ageing literary lion rages at the dying of the light
S. James Wegg, JWR
ut when all is finally revealed it’s gesture—especially the hands—that lifts this film into the ranks of extraordinary and ... bears repeated viewings to savour the subtlety and intimate sense of self.
Tony Macklin, Fayetteville Free Weekly
Starting Out in the Evening has a formidable performance by Frank Langella to recommend it.
Wesley Lovell, Oscar Guy
A bravura performance from Frank Langella blended into a lackluster story.
Bruce Bennett, Spectrum (St. George, Utah)
Awkward and sometimes overly subtle, but compelling performances by a cast of normally supporting actors who make the most of their much deserved chance to carry a film.
Sean Axmaker, MSN.com
The sophomore feature from director Andrew Wagner is a marvelous, nuanced work with rich characters and complicated relationships...
Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star
Wagner has turned the page on a promising career, and it will be exciting to see what the next chapter brings.
Karina Montgomery, Cinerina
Criminally overlooked, this is a great movie, about which I could find no complaint or overt flaw except feeling that Taylor (whom I do love) was mostly a distraction. See it if you can.
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald
Langella's nuanced performance saves the film; the actor has an understated but powerful role, and he takes full advantage.
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
Wagner's film is an elegy of sorts for that once-mighty beast known as the New York Writer, a creature that now finds itself increasingly marginalized in a world in which readers are getting scarcer and shelf space for serious fiction is dwindling daily.

Read all 16 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jim H

A reserved, hard-working, washed-up novelist battles age as a young grad student interviews him for her thesis and his relationship with his daughter falters because of her choice in men. Frank Langella is phenomenal in the lead role of this tightly constructed and intelligently… More
A reserved, hard-working, washed-up novelist battles age as a young grad student interviews him for her thesis and his relationship with his daughter falters because of her choice in men. Frank Langella is phenomenal in the lead role of this tightly constructed and intelligently written drama. He lets us know Leonard Schiller in little gestures like his reflexive withdraw from Heather's kiss on his hand and some of his more impulsive actions in the third act. The character's deep pain comes through Langella's reserved exterior, and the script gives us subtle moments like his prodding of Casey about "compromise." Lauren Ambrose is almost up to the task of keeping up with Langella, but it's Lili Taylor who truly rises to the challenge as this father/daughter relationship is one of the most believable I've seen on screen in a while. The film's theme focuses on what we give up to remain sane in our relationships -- all our relationships, with each other, with our work, with our hopes for the future -- and how time is the constant antagonist. I thought the film's pace slowed down in the second act, and Schiller's attraction to Heather was never fully clear. Is this a sexual relationship in the fullest sense of the word, or is it intellectual with occasional sexual trappings? And why does Heather react as she does in the third act? Overall, this film is worth seeing for Langella and for the opportunity to see an intelligent film about intelligent people, which is a rarity in this age.
jay n

Wonderful performance from Frank Langella is the main attraction of this film. Slow and at times a little dull but worthwhile to watch a master at work.
Rico Z

This movie has everything that I love in a movie: an air-tight, engaging and excellently-written script; cream-of-the crop actors (talent-wise, not tabloid-wise) who really grip you with their intensity and utter devotion to the characters they are playing; and a director who really… More
This movie has everything that I love in a movie: an air-tight, engaging and excellently-written script; cream-of-the crop actors (talent-wise, not tabloid-wise) who really grip you with their intensity and utter devotion to the characters they are playing; and a director who really knows what the film they're making is all about and what it should mean to the people who are watching it. Lauren Amborse (one of my favorites--of Six Feet Under fame) is a true revelation as an ambitious grad-student who is completely enamored with the world of literature and its escapist qualities. She is so in love with words that she is also in love with the man responsible for writing some of her favorite "works of art." This man would be Anthony Langella's character (and out-of-touch; hiding in the darkness, forgotten writer who is working on his latest (and presumably his last) great novel. Still, something is keeping him from completing his work of art (10 years in the making) and he's not sure why he's unable to just hammer it out and finish it. This is when Ambrose's character comes in and "shakes things up" for an old writer who has little chance at ever being published again and therefore, being forgotten for all time with no legacy to leave behind. Lili Taylor is outstanding as the writer's daughter. Her subplot storyline of feeling neglected by the men in her life (her father included) is heart-breaking and tender as well. It really shows you that this film is really a character showcase and it allows its actors to really sink their teeth and completely embody the characters they portray. There is so much hurt and joy and learning that words can cause and there is a way of using words to shield ourselves from the things we want protection from. But ultimately, the truth about the way we work and why we do the things we do comes to light and slaps some sense into us. We need words to slap us into believing in ourselves again. We need words to know how we truly feel about one another. We need words to live. We needs words to survive in a world where words are not spoken in order to spare someone's feelings or to strip someone from feeling anything altogether. Words give us our dignity--and when, for example, a writer runs out of words, sometims what's needed is somone to give that person the will (no matter how late in life; no matter how late in the evening of your existence) to speak words once more.
Walter M

In "Starting out in the Evening," Leonard Schiller(Frank Langella) is an aging novelist whose novels have long been out of print and now teaches English at a university. Aiming to rectify that is Heather Wolfe(Lauren Ambrose), a graduate student at Brown University who… More
In "Starting out in the Evening," Leonard Schiller(Frank Langella) is an aging novelist whose novels have long been out of print and now teaches English at a university. Aiming to rectify that is Heather Wolfe(Lauren Ambrose), a graduate student at Brown University who wants to write her master's thesis on Leonard's books. At first, he is hesitant, not wanting to be distracted from work on his latest novel(for the record there is no greater distraction than a redhead), but having survived a heart attack the previous year, mortality is creeping up on him and Heather's mention of a University of Chicago Press contact strikes a chord, as does her own publishing success in a literary journal. "Starting out in the Evening" is a talky and theatrical movie that is salvaged by a marvelous performance by Frank Langella along with key support from Lili Taylor and Adrian Lester(Lauren Ambrose however does not fare as well). In fact, it is a late sequence between Langella and Lester that puts the movie in perspective. What it seeks to convey is the selfishness of writers in their solitary pursuit of glory. However, for Leonard who is reserved and shy, it is the perfect occupation. Considering he works not unlike a lot of other people to support his family, while also entertaining and enlightening the general public, how selfish can he be? Heather also made a choice between Brown University and her boyfriend back in Ohio and it is one she is happy with. And isn't having children itself selfish?
Glenn G

Really fine performances by everyone, but man has this film been played out a million times over and over?
Hal M

Fine drama revolving around the relationship between an aged writer and a very young female 'fan'/critic. A little like Harold and Maude--they're such an unlikely pair. Also important though is the writer's daughter, played by Laure Nambrose, as she tries to… More
Fine drama revolving around the relationship between an aged writer and a very young female 'fan'/critic. A little like Harold and Maude--they're such an unlikely pair. Also important though is the writer's daughter, played by Laure Nambrose, as she tries to figure out what next in her romantic life, as she approaches 40. Like everyone else I applaud the acting of Frank Langella (the writer), but the female leads are terrific too! I think the young girl, played by Lili Taylor, had an even more difficult role and played it perfectly. A soft-spoken, thoughtful film.
William G

Langella is very good, and Taylor all but his match, in understated literary drama.
Richard F

Like "Away from Her" and "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man", this film suffers from Lionsgate's amateurish production style. Like those movies, this plays like a made for TV movie on the Lifetime channel at times. Other times it feels like an episode of the… More
Like "Away from Her" and "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man", this film suffers from Lionsgate's amateurish production style. Like those movies, this plays like a made for TV movie on the Lifetime channel at times. Other times it feels like an episode of the "Larry Sanders Show" or "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Moreover, supporting cast is comprised of members of the cast of "Six Feet Under", adding to the HBO flavour. Once I lowered my cinematic standards and stopped focusing on the overlit sets, I could finally delve into what is a somewhat interesting character study, albeit the themes are not necessarily resounding here. Bottom line, this film does not live up to the rave reviews it undeservingly received.
Sunil J

I got more out of the dialogue in this movie than anything else.