On B List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
4/15
4/15:
I find Brighton Beach Memoirs too Jewish.
I don't know whether or not Neil Simon was making it up as the story went along because nothing I saw seems
realistic. Not only that, but it also comes across to me a typical theatrical play that should've stayed within the
confines of Broadway. Jonathan Silverman, an all-time bad actor who sucks so bad in trying to be funny, ruins the movie
by talking about sex constantly.
Eugene Jerome is a borderline sex offender for all intents and purposes. Already obsessed with the topic, it's what he
aspires to be. His life is complete when he's handed by his older brother a pornographic picture of a French girl.
The rest isn't up to par; in fact, it's no different from an Arthur Miller's play but has a happy ending. The
trouble is: I don't care about the family because the characters, especially the mother, are unlikeable and not worth
caring about. That's why I lost interest early on, hence the perpetual drag of trying to finish the movie.
For a while, I thought Brighton Beach Memoirs was going to be a light comedy fanfare. Yet Neil Simon decided to go
for a dramatic tone by focusing on the conflicts within the family. It doesn't work because the movie has to be either comedy
or drama but not both. Plus, Eugene slowly revealing himself as a full-blown sex pervert doesn't help matters any. By the way,
at the beginning, he breaks through the fourth wall to narrate about the little things that he notices but eventually
abandons the practice.
All in all, Neil Simon probably got nostalgic about living in the 30's and 40's and decided to write a play about it when
he should've kept the whole thing to himself.