The Evening Star

The Evening Star is a 1996 American comedy drama film directed by Robert Harling, adapted from the 1992 novel by Larry McMurtry. It is a sequel to the Academy Award-winning 1983 film Terms of Endearment starring Shirley MacLaine, who reprises the role of Aurora Greenway, for which she won an Oscar in the original film.
Taking place about thirteen years after the original, following the characters from 1988 to 1993, the plot focuses on Aurora's relationship with her three grandchildren, her late daughter Emma's best friend Patsy and her longtime housekeeper Rosie. Along the way, Aurora enters into a relationship with a younger man, while watching the world around her change as old friends pass on and her grandchildren make lives of their own.
Miranda Richardson co-stars alongside Juliette Lewis, Marion Ross, Bill Paxton, and Ben Johnson in his final film role before his death; the film is dedicated to him. Jack Nicholson returns in an extended cameo appearance, reprising his role from Terms of Endearment.
Unlike its predecessor, The Evening Star received negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb.
Years have passed since the death of her daughter, Emma. Aurora Greenway is still her usual strong, willful self, but all is not well with the three grandchildren she raised after Emma's death, particularly elder boy Tommy, who is serving time in jail on a drug charge.
Younger grandson Teddy now has a girlfriend and a son, neither of whom Aurora warms to. Melanie (who is both the youngest and the only girl out of the three grandkids), is still living with Aurora but giving serious thought to moving out. Aurora's only true companion is housekeeper Rosie, particularly now that a man she's been spending time with, the General, is a friend, not a romance.
Her late daughter's old friend, Patsy, still has a home in Houston and thinks of herself as Aurora's friend now, dispensing advice to Melanie, something that Aurora does not appreciate. Though she caught her boyfriend cheating on her and subsequently tries to overdose on Patsy's muscle relaxants, Melanie eventually moves out to Los Angeles with the same boyfriend after he pleads with her for a fresh start.
Meanwhile, Rosie is being courted by an elderly gentleman named Arthur, who has bought astronaut Garrett Breedlove's former house next door. On seeing how lonely Aurora obviously is, Rosie tricks her into seeing a licensed counselor, Jerry, to whom Aurora admits that she is still seeking "the love of my life." She starts to chronicle her life in scrapbooks, which helps her loneliness.
Jerry and Aurora begin a romantic relationship; however, Jerry also has a fling with Patsy, which Aurora discovers. Aurora ends the relationship after learning it centers around Jerry's long-unresolved Oedipus complex issues.
After many visits to Tommy in prison, Aurora is finally able to reach him through scrapbook pages of him with his mother Emma when he was a child. This helps to heal his anger and mend the broken relationship with his grandmother.
Needing a new cause, Aurora takes charge after Melanie decides to stay in Los Angeles to try to become an actress, her boyfriend having left her for another woman. Aurora is peeved to discover that Patsy has the same idea. Melanie succeeds in landing a role on a television show, which Aurora and Patsy celebrate, but they end up having a fight on the flight home.
When Aurora comes home, however, she learns that Rosie is critically ill. She is left once more facing the prospect of being alone. Against Arthur's wishes, Aurora carries Rosie 'home' to the Greenway house, and tends to her lovingly until Rosie eventually succumbs to her illness. Arthur brings Rosie's ashes to Aurora, asking her to do what she feels would be best for Rosie's memory.
A few days later, Aurora is writing in her diary in her backyard gazebo alongside Rosie's urn when Garrett surprises her. This visit cheers her up immensely and seems to rejuvenate her spirits; she confides that she's still searching for her one true love, and Garrett advises her to find that true love soon because "there aren't that many shopping days left till Christmas."
Tommy is released from prison and he and Aurora embrace at the prison exit where she has arrived to take him home. He lands a promising job after taking computer classes in prison, and eventually he and his new girlfriend start a family and get married. Their child, Henry, is completely doted upon by Aurora, who starts teaching him music lessons.
Scrapbooks continue to be filled year by year, until one day Aurora suffers a stroke while teaching Henry the piano; this slows Aurora but also brings the family closer together, with Patsy spending all her days tending to Aurora's needs and the rest of the family close by. She and Patsy make peace with each other at last, apologizing for so many years of battling when both loved the same family so fiercely. At Christmastime, Aurora is bedridden but surrounded by all her grandchildren and friends as she passes quietly, calling out softly to Emma. The ending scene features young Henry playing the familiar theme from Terms of Endearment on the piano as Tommy sits beside him.
In November 1992, it was announced Paramount Pictures had begun development on The Evening Star an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Larry McMurtry which itself was a follow-up to Terms of Endearment. Shirley MacLaine was confirmed to reprise her Academy Award winning role of Aurora Greenway in the film which was set to be developed by producer David Kirkpatrick with Robert Harling writing the screenplay. Despite the critical and commercial success of the 1983 film adaptation of Terms of Endearment, Paramount wouldn't commit to buying until Maclaine signed on. Jack Nicholson was interested in reprising his role of Garrett Breedlove contingent upon quality of the script. In November 1993, it was announced Frank Oz was in negotiations to serve as the film's director. James L. Brooks who directed Terms of Endearment was asked to return but felt there was nothing he could do with the material that wasn't done in the first film. In February 1994, production was delayed due to a lawsuit by Kirkpatrick against Paramount alleging that following his ouster from the studio he could stay on as producer on the films he was developing (which included this film and The Brady Bunch Movie), but claimed Paramount later reneged. It was further alleged that then Paramount president Stanley R. Jaffe had stonewalled green lighting Kirkpatrick's projects due to clashes the two had experienced working together on the film School Ties and only greenlit the film after Kirkpatrick was in the process of vacating Paramount. Both Juliette Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow were considered for the role of Melanie Horton with Lewis landing the role. In September 1995, Harling was announced to be taking the role of director after Oz left the project.
The film was released theatrically on December 25, 1996. The film was released on home video on May 6, 1997.
Unlike Terms of Endearment, the film was not a box-office success, grossing only $12,767,815 (unadjusted) and received poor reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 20% rating from 35 reviews with the consensus: "Even taken on its own terms, there's nothing terribly endearing about this belated sequel." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F.
Roger Ebert, in his Chicago Sun-Times review of December 27, 1996, described The Evening Star as "a completely unconvincing sequel", awarding it one-and-a-half stars of a possible four. He said the story lacks any points of interest, and found the character developments contrived and clunky.
Mick LaSalle, in a December 25 San Francisco Chronicle review, similarly said that the film lacks a story and instead "is constructed as a series of incidents involving Aurora and her family." He praised Shirley MacLaine's performance but derided the characterizations and overall tedium of the film, summing it up as "one of the worst films of the year".
Ebert and LaSalle both criticized the numerous character deaths, interpreting them as a desperate attempt to maintain the viewer's interest.