Boys And Girl

I watched The Fabulous Baker Boys for the first time since it was out in the theatres.  It's not much of a story.  A two-brother lounge act is getting worse bookings so they take on a female singer.  The act revives, but the three personalities clash, splitting them apart.

But the film isn't really about story, it's a three-person character study.  Luckily, the actors are up to it.  Beau Bridges is the older, more conventional brother, who runs the business side and doesn't mind the corny music they play.  Jeff Bridges is the moody brother who's drifting through life, wasting his talent.  Michelle Pfeiffer is the hot chanteuse who's a bit inexperienced in show biz but doesn't put up with any crap.

Jeff Bridges does a fine job of being sullen, though he's so deadpan (only occasionally letting his real feelings out) that he needs others to play against or the film will sink into his darkness.  Brother Beau, who wasn't the star his brother was when the movie was made, carries much of the comedy, and also the plot.  The film may be about the more glamorous couple of Jeff and  Michele, but Beau is the normal family guy through whom we can enter the film.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the revelation here.  A bit of a tart, a bit of a smart-ass, and someone who's been burned as much as the Bridges character, she's a live wire who adds a spark to the film just like she brightens up the Baker Boys' act.  When the film was shot, she was a star on her way up, and this part, for which she got an Oscar nomination, showed she'd arrived.

A word about the music.  I know there are lots of lounge acts out there.  Not as many as there were when the film was made, and even back then it was dying out.  But man is their two-piano sound muzaky.  I don't know how people could stand it.  With Pfeiffer, at least you've got something to look at.  Speaking of Pfeiffer, she actually started in musicals, her first starring role being in Grease 2, and a few years ago doing Hairspray.  She's not a great singer, but good enough for the purposes of the film--we're not talking about a top national act, after all.  And she's certainly at the height of her sexinesss.