Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by John Lee Hancock, based on the novel by John Berendt
Starring John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, The Lady Chablis, Alison Eastwood, Jude Law

My Advice: Wait and Rent It.

I've never seen a more universal and apt description of a film by critics.  They've said that they'd never seen a two-and-a-half hour film before where so little happened.  And I concur.  This follow-up to the above average Absolute Power is almost painfully slow in its pacing.  The scene where Spacey (who does a wonderful job as always) greets guests at his Christmas party feels like it's ten minutes long.  Clint--we get the fact he's a liked guy.  Move on.  John Cusack is solid as always, and Alison Eastwood is adequate in their tacked-on-in-the-last-rewrite love affair.  The real gem of this movie is The Lady Chablis, playing herself.  I found myself waiting for her to get back on the screen because any scene with her was bound to be absolutely hysterical.  Despite this, I get no real sense of why the film was even made, best-seller or not.  It doesn't seem to have any point to it.  I can't wait to read the book and see what all the fuss is about.