Synopsis
Leonard Schiller once counted among New York's literary lions, but illness and ten years of writer's block have lowered his profile, almost to the point of obscurity. When Heather Wolfe, an ambitious literature major, asks to interview him for her thesis on his work, her interest forces him to address the issues that he has avoided all these years, and stirs in him feelings he has long forgotten, much to his daughter's consternation.
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Cast
- Frank LangellaLeonard Schiller
- Lauren AmbroseHeather Wolfe
- Patti PerkinsDolores
- Adrian LesterCasey Davis
- Lili TaylorAriel Schiller
- Dennis ParlatoAuthor
- Jeff McCarthyCharles
- Michael CumpstyVictor
- Jessica HechtSandra Bennett
- Karl BuryFrederick
Recommendations
- 100
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Above all is Langella, achingly vulnerable under layers of flesh. In one scene, alone, he eats peanut butter intensely, thoughtfully, and nothing he could do as Hamlet would seem deeper or more poetic. - 100
Los Angeles Times
Intelligent, involving and conspicuously adult, Starting Out in the Evening is almost shocking in its distinctiveness, its ability to create high drama from an unlikely source. - 91
Entertainment Weekly
Andrew Wagner has made a lovely comedy of death and rebirth. - 90
The New York Times
What is so remarkable about Mr. Langella is that he seems to hold Leonard’s intellectual cosmos inside him, to make it implicit in the man’s every gesture and pause. - 80
Variety
Director Andrew Wagner draws topnotch work from a pro cast in Starting Out in the Evening, a wise, carefully observed chamber drama. - 80
Village Voice
This wise, observant, and exquisitely tacit chamber piece complicates every May-December, academic-novel cliché in the book. - 75
Rolling Stone
Langella delivers a master class in acting. He's playing Leonard Schiller, an aging author aching from the loss of his wife, a weak heart and literary neglect. - 75
ReelViews
It's a gentle, unhurried drama about how people can connect with each other through conversation, nonverbal gestures, and writing.
