Big Picture Big Sound

Could Open and Close in One Night

Director Henry Jaglom's latest, "Just 45 Minutes From Broadway", originally premiered as a play, and on the big screen it still feels very much like one. At first, this takes away from the overall feel, and creates a stilted atmosphere where all of the cast is stiff. It is clear that everyone is acting and it is so unnatural that it is almost uncomfortable. Thankfully, after the shaky start, things get a bit better - but only a bit.

Everything about this effort screams homage to actors and the stage, to the point that almost everyone concerned overacts. At times the overacting is so prominent that it all borders on unintended satire. If it had been satire it might have worked, but played straight it is at best okay at times. For long stretches, however, it is near painful to watch.

Pandora (Tanna Frederick) is one of the daughters of a thespian family. She is flighty, prone to outbursts of both happiness and sadness. She can seem refreshing in one scene and annoying in the next. She is the type that smart guys avoid in real-life, and the reason she has come back to the country home of her parents is that she has been dumped by a guy and she is depressed.

Betsy (Julie Davis) is Pandora's sister and she could not be more different. She is the only one in the family who is not a person of the stage and her distaste for the rest of her family borders on hatred. She has brought along her lawyer fiancé (Judd Nelson) and his persona matches no one there in the slightest, not even his fiancé's. If one did not know better, one would think he was from a different planet than this group. Mr. Nelson's performance - the stiffest of the bunch - does more damage to the show than all of the others combined. He sleepwalks through his role.

Oddly enough, Nelson goes against his fiancé, and ends up falling for the magic of the stage clan. Betsy is aghast and Nelson gravitates towards Pandora. It's all so manipulative that you'll wonder if you have grown strings and become a marionette. There are also various subplots floating around, but none of them amounts to much. They are just temporary stops meant to mean something, but you won't care about one of them. Jaglom is talented, but this is not a showcase for his abilities. This is a lot further than 45 minutes from anything good on Broadway.