Review of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) by Ilsa W — 07 Sep 2009

Not boring, but not much happens and I found myself not caring for the story nor the characters. Really comes across as a film adaptation of a book (which it is), in that it seems too poorly contructed to have been conceived for the visual medium.

Some scenes went on inexplicably long and seemed completely irrelevant to the story. The film seems to spend most of its time trying to establish a "mood" or the setting (which we get in the first few minutes - move on) and lacks depth in story.

Entire characters were pointless. As for the plot, the "wrinkle" near the end struck me as odd and didn't make a lot of sense. Was this supposed to change something? It didn't seem that way to me, and yet the entire resolution seems to depend upon it.

And does anyone give a rat's behind about the victim? I certainly didn't, so the whole "justice" angle goes right out the window. Tack on a few false endings, and you've got one muddled film that doesn't satisfy.

If it's a mood piece, it's too straightforward. If it's a crime drama, then it lacks punch. Waste of a good cast.