
This panoramic tale of Savannah, Georgia's eccentricities focuses on a murder and the subsequent trial of James Arthur Williams (Kevin Spacey): self made man, art collector, antiques dealer, bon vivant, and semi-closeted homosexual. John Kelso (John Cusack) a magazine reporter, finds himself in Savannah amidst the beautiful architecture and odd doings to write a feature on one of William's famous Christmas parties. He is intrigued by Williams from the start, but his curiosity... (Full plot summary below)
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This panoramic tale of Savannah, Georgia's eccentricities focuses on a murder and the subsequent trial of James Arthur Williams (Kevin Spacey): self made man, art collector, antiques dealer, bon vivant, and semi-closeted homosexual. John Kelso (John Cusack) a magazine reporter, finds himself in Savannah amidst the beautiful architecture and odd doings to write a feature on one of William's famous Christmas parties. He is intrigued by Williams from the start, but his curiosity is piqued when he meets Jim's violent, young and sexy lover, Billy Hanson (Jude Law). Later that night, Billy is dead, and Kelso stays on to cover the murder trial. Along the way, he encounters the irrepressible Chablis Deveau (Lady Chablis), a drag queen commedienne, Sonny Seiler (Jack Thompson), lawyer to Williams, whose famous dog, Uga, is the official mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs, an odd man who keeps flies attached to mini leashes on his lapels and threatens daily to poison the water supply, the Married Ladies Card Club, and Minerva (Irma P. Hall), a spiritualist. Between being Jim's buddy, cuddling up to a torch singer, meeting every eccentric in Savannah, participating in midnight graveyard rituals, and helping solve the mysteries surrounding Billy's murder, Kelso has his hands full.
Leave your thoughts about Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
| Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovA wholly original creation, crossed with shadows and light and the everyday madness of Savannah and its remarkable citizens. |
| Kalamazoo GazetteJames Sanfordcrowned by a smashing performance by the always-mesmerizing Kevin Spacey... |
| Ozus' World Movie ReviewsDennis SchwartzSpacey's charm and wit carry this film about as far as it can go. |
| Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumEastwood essentially uses the Lady Chablis the same way he did a few extended Charlie Parker solos in Bird--as unbridled, inventive improvisations that challenge the well-rehearsed "head" arrangements of everyone else. |
| Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittKevin Spacey gives a richly nuanced performance as the accused killer, and director Clint Eastwood makes the sometimes sordid story less sensationalistic than it might have seemed in less accomplished hands. |
| The New RepublicStanley KauffmannEastwood has captured a peculiar yet involving slice of life. |
| VarietyTodd McCarthyAn outstanding lean film trapped in a fat film's body. |
| Washington PostDesson ThomsonAlways entertaining. But someone seems to have thrown away the metronome into the Spanish moss outside. "Midnight," which finally draws to a halt after two and a half hours, has a lot of acting, a bit of soul and no rhythm. |
| NewsweekDavid AnsenThe one crucial miscasting is Eastwood as director. He approaches the story like a tourist. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertClint Eastwood's film is a determined attempt to be faithful to the book's spirit, but something ineffable is lost just by turning on the camera: Nothing we see can be as amazing as what we've imagined. |