Review of Stormy Monday (1988) by Mereie D — 29 Nov 2009

It makes a nice change to see a movie which uses typical eighties elements in an amusing rather than an annoying way. Stormy Monday is full of neon lights, night club life as we remember it from twenty years ago, contemporary fashion and hairdos, arrogant yuppies and other sleazy business types, synthesizer background music, and so on and so forth.

Another element I liked a lot in this movie is the use of free jazz, both as a story element and as background music to support the flow of events â?? not very eighties, but still (perhaps the jazz must be regarded as a blessing in disguise, who knows).

Furthermore I liked the actors â?? especially Tommy Lee Jones, who is a valuable contribution to almost any movie, and Sting, who surprised me with his excellent acting qualities. There is only one problem I had with this movie, and Iâ??m sorry to say it is rather vital: the simple plot and (in connection with that) the filmâ??s inability to get to the point.

The opening sequence shows us several different people who all seem to be up to something and whom one expects to get together at some point to do major things together. I was dying to know what major things these would be.

Unfortunately, after a good 30 minutes, I was still dying to find out, for nothing much had happened yet. And the things that happened eventually were not that special at all, which could also be said about the backgrounds of the characters.

I had the expectation Bean and Griffith had some shady past, but they turned out to be just some guys trying to make their way in the world like anybody else. Even Griffithâ??s connection with Tommy Lee Jones was not that shady.

In my opinion, the scriptwriter could have made much more of Stormy Monday, which has the makings of a great film indeed.