Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

The rather ponderous title mentally prepares us for a profound, soul-stirring, dark-night-of-the soul-type experience...and maybe that's exactly what John Berendt's immensely popular book delivers [Ed. note: ah, nope]. Clint Eastwood's adaptation of same, however, is ho-hum superficial twaddle. Based on real events, Midnight is nominally about a Town and Country reporter, John Kelso (John Cusack), who arrives in Savannah, Georgia to write a 500-word piece on an annual party thrown by nouveau-riche slickster Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey), then sticks around after Williams kills his rough-trade lover (Jude Law), allegedly in self-defense. In Berendt's book, all of this is apparently but a handful of tiles in a colorful mosaic portrait of Savannah eccentricity, but Hollywood movies are invariably plot-driven, so here the events surrounding the murder completely dominate...to the film's detriment, because the real-life Williams saga, even in this streamlined version (four trials have wisely been condensed into one, etc.), isn't terribly involving. Thanks to the performers, it's never less than watchable, but at two-and-a-half hours, and with that weighty moniker, you might reasonably hope for more than a semi-pleasant time-filler. Optional. (M. D'Angelo)[Blu-ray Review—Oct. 18, 2016—Warner, 155 min., R, Blu-ray: $21.99—Making its debut on Blu-ray, 1997's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil features a great transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include “The Real People in the Garden” interviews with individuals depicted in the book and film (22 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a lesser Eastwood film looks handsome on Blu-ray.]