The Fabulous Baker Boys

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Next up, I confess I have a replacement review. This was gonna be 'The Man in the Iron Mask', however, a few days ago, she requested this one as a replacement, and I was happy to oblige. I'll still to that one some day, but for now, we're gonna go with The Dude and his brother. There's a combination of things going on here for this request.

For starters, Mom knows I like Jeff Bridges an awful lot, especially as The Dude. Call it a "Dude crush" if you must (pun definitely intended), but this guy is just one of my favorite actors from things I HAVE seen him in. Of course, this will soon lead to a Jeff Bridges month for this particular section of the site.

Secondly, I'm really quite unfamiliar with Beau Bridges' work, for the most part, and this was a good role for him, and a good film to tackle two birds with one stone. Of course, a dash of Michelle Pfeiffer certainly doesn't hurt either, and she's really quite good here.

The film itself has to do with two brothers, Jack (Jeff) and Frank (Beau) Baker. They are two talented jazz pianists, who play various lounges and jazz clubs, making a living at it. While Frank handles the business, Jack is starting to get bored with the same old routine, and suggests they bring on a singer for their act. This leads to the brothers hiring the lovely Susie Diamond (Pfeiffer) - an ex-call girl, looking for something more in her life.

Eventually, Jack and Susie begin to develop feelings for one another, which begins complicating things as well. All in all, the story goes pretty much as one would expect for this kind of movie, so it may feel a bit dated for some. But, truth be told, I still enjoyed it for what it was, and there's very little to actually criticize about this one.

I can't quite put my finger on what the best parts of it are, but I think it's just these performances as a whole. The cool part about it is having two real-life siblings play sibling on the screen. There will always be a certain chemistry between the actors that wouldn't be there otherwise, and it really comes through here between Jeff and Beau. Pfeiffer even got a nomination for her performance here, which is always impressive, and I'd say pretty well-deserved. She lent her own vocals to her singing, too, which always warrants respect from me.

This is one of those movies I'd recommend throwing on during a rainy Sunday afternoon with the lights dimmed, a fire going (if you can) and a nice hot cup of coffee. I know, specific, right? But still. Give it a watch for yourself, and see if you get a similar vibe from it.

4/5

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