The Morning After

A palpable misfire, The Morning After follows Jane Fonda’s Viveca Van Loren as she wakes up next to a dead man after a night of heavy drinking and partying – with the character’s subsequent efforts at figuring out what happened assisted by a curiously helpful stranger (Jeff Bridges’ Turner Kendall). There’s little doubt that The Morning After ultimately fares best in its deliberate yet somewhat engaging opening half hour, as filmmaker Sidney Lumet does a nice job of establishing the central character and the admittedly perilous situation in which she finds herself – with the fairly promising vibe perpetuated and heightened by Fonda’s impressively committed turn as the emotional, alcoholic protagonist. It’s clear, then, that the picture’s slow-but-steady descent into irrelevance is triggered by a meandering and progressively tedious midsection, as the emphasis is placed almost entirely on Viveca’s mostly unconvincing relationship with Bridges’ unreasonably oddball character (ie it becomes more and more difficult to work up any interest in or enthusiasm for the pair’s coupling). And although the third act, which returns the focus to the murder mystery and culminates in an entertainingly violent climax, ensures that the movie finishes on a comparatively positive note, The Morning After has long-since cemented its place as a woefully erratic endeavor that squanders a top-notch performance by Fonda.

** out of ****