Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs

Directed by Gene Saks, Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs details the exploits of 1930s teenager Eugene Morris Jerome (Jonathan Silverman) and the various members of his extended family – including long-suffering mother Kate (Blythe Danner) and short-tempered brother (Brian Drillinger’s Stanley). Filmmaker Saks, working from Simon’s screenplay, delivers a deliberately-paced yet mostly compelling drama that benefits from the top-notch work of its various performers, as Silverman’s compelling, sympathetic turn as the affable central character is matched by a more-than-able supporting cast that includes Judith Ivey and Bob Dishy – with the actors’ uniformly stirring efforts lending the proceedings a palpably grounded feel that proves impossible to resist. And although the picture’s episodic opening stretch is, at times, perhaps a little too lighthearted for its own good, Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs eventually progresses into an unexpectedly absorbing second half that’s been jam-packed with engrossing, emotionally-charged sequences – which does, in the end, cement the movie’s place as a solid adaptation of Simon’s heartfelt, semi-autobiographical play.

*** out of ****