Nadine [HD]

Predictable...But....A Whole Lotta Fun!... ***1/2 stars
This review refers to "Nadine"....

Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger will take you on a ride that's a whole lotta fun. The film runs about and hour and a half...and that's about right. Any longer may have been a bit tedious. It may not be the type of film that you will watch over and over, and may be a bit on the predictable side, but with all the fun and the great cast, including Gwen Verdon, Rip Torn, Jerry Stiller, Mickey Jones and Glenne Headly, it's absolutely worth the view.

Austin, Texas mid 1950's. Nadine Hightower(Basinger), beautician, has posed for some pictures, ehem, make that "art studies". The photographer assured her, that he knew Hugh Hefner, and she would certainly, make it to the top. But Nadine has second thoughts, she wants her photos, er, art studies back, and when she goes back to the studio to retrieve them, gets caught up in the middle of a murder scene. She grabs the envelope with her name on it, and high tails it out of there...

"You Work Your Whole Life to Get Ahead, and it Takes 2 Nitwits 10 Minutes to Screw it Up!"
I guess I'm having a Kim Basinger day today, but in addition to Elvis Has Left the Building, I would like to recommend this 1987 comedy which also showcases Basinger's Georgian accent.

It's 1954 in Austin, Texas, and Nadine Hightower is in a lot of trouble. She's gone to sleazy photographer Raymond Escobar's studio to reclaim some photos from him because they were "lots more artistic than I bargained for." Unfortunately, when she's in the back room retrieving the folder, Escobar is stabbed, and she runs like hell from the scene with an envelope that has her name on it, but inside are the illegally obtained blueprints for a super highway development that ends up in the hands of her estranged husband, Vernon (Jeff Bridges), a handsome, wise-mouthed bum who owns a virtually patron free bar called the Blue Bonnet and that's not the worst of it. He's fooling around with a former baton queen who works for the Lone Star Brewing company (a ditzy blond played humorously well by...

Bridges Ain't No Cary Grant, But He'll Sure Do
It's Austin, Texas, 1954, and Jeff Bridges's biggest ambition is a gaudy neon to top-off his tacky, no-business, beer bar, while estranged wife and apprentice hairdresser Kim Basinger sends her "art photos" to Playboy magazine. Obviously they're made for each other. Meanwhile, her sleazo photographer turns up dead and they're on the run. It's delightful madcap as they bumble their way through a series of misadventures. Their subtly affectionate sniping reminds me of a bad grammar version of Nick and Nora Charles in the uptown Thin Man series. Surprisingly, the California born Bridges has the "good ol' boy" drawl down pat, while even the usually snooty Basinger manages a convincing honky-tonk queen. Good period detail without the distractive sounds of Golden Oldies. -- With a delightfully arch Rip Torn as the slyly superior villian. It's amazing how these little gems keep getting produced with little or no recognition. All in all, great escapist fare for a slow evening at home.

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