When I originally saw this movie, I worked in a bookstore. Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil is a book that I’d been told to read by countless customers but I never got around to it. After seeing this movie, I’m not so sure I ever will. That’s a real catch-22 situation because I don’t feel I completely understood this movie without reading the book, but I really doubt it’s worth the effort to read the book to gain the insight into this film that wasn’t provided by the filmmaker.
The film tells the story of John Kelso (John Cusack), a New York reporter who’s been sent to Savannah, Georgia to cover the life of antique dealer Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey) for Town & Country magazine. Shortly after finding out that his assignment to the story wasn’t by chance, Kelso is shocked to hear that Williams is accused of murdering a young man (Jude Law). Kelso weaves his way through the extremely odd cast of characters that inhabit Williams’ world, including the extravagant transvestite, The Lady Chablis, to find information that may prove Williams innocent.
For most of the movie, I asked myself what, exactly, was the connection between Jim Williams and characters like The Lady Chablis, Joe the piano player, and Mandy (Alison Eastwood). When the story veers into subplots like Kelso’s romantic interest in Mandy or some supposedly integral stuff involving voodoo, I simply became further confused. I’m sure this stuff is explained in at least some detail in the book, but I felt that I should have been given a handout to read before the film started that would explain why I should pay attention to the various characters. Now, add to this that the film clocks in at about 2 1/2 hours, which is way too long considering the pacing, and you’ve got another problem. The South may do things in a laid-back style, but I prefer my movies to make the best use of the time they require and, in this case, the subplots just didn’t seem justified to me.
Still, the performances save the film from being a disaster. Cusack wanders from nutcase to nutcase trying to tell the story as best he can. His performance, while far from Oscar-quality, is the glue that keeps the film together. Kevin Spacey, who is always riveting, is his trusty stellar self here. Jack Thompson, playing Williams’ lawyer, is fun-to-watch as he unravels the case’s finer points. The breakout performance, however, comes from The Lady Chablis, who is, by far, the most exciting thing about this movie. I defy anyone to take their eyes off him/her.
There’s a lot wrong with this film that a simple test could have cured. If the screenwriter, John Lee Hancock, would have made sure that that those people who didn’t read the book would still understand and enjoy the movie, this film would have been a neo-classic. Clint Eastwood’s direction is fine and dandy and the performances are all, for the most part, top-shelf. Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil has all the right elements — they’re just not in the right places.
2.5 out of 5.0 stars
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