The Morning After (1986) User Reviews

Great murder mystery film, except for the murder mystery

[budikavlan · 6/10 · 16 November 2002]

It's a shame the filmmakers decided to make this a murder mystery, because the "mystery" is the only bad part of the film. Fonda and Bridges are both terrific, as usual, and the story of their meeting and falling in love along with the moral rebirth that love sparked in both would have made a fantastic movie. Jeff Bridges is the USA's stealth great actor: he quietly nails every role without an ounce of flash. His chemistry with Jane Fonda (hell, he has chemistry with every actress he's ever costarred with) is the best reason to watch this. Unfortunately, the heart of the plot is a lackluster murder/conspiracy story which undermines the rest. It takes "The Morning After" from a "must see" to a "see if there's nothing better."

Two Great Performances Buried in Gaping Plot Discrepancies

[jzappa · 7/10 · 17 November 2010]

The Morning After opens with an extraordinarily effective scene prototypical of director Sidney Lumet's pared-down building of tension. As Jane Fonda crawls out of bed, we sense her hangover, one of those inordinately miserable mornings when nothing about you is sufficiently functional, and we also sense how accustomed she's become to these mornings as she is not only passably functional but also recognizes herself in the mirror and indeed spills some gin into a glass, speculating about the guy in her bed. Who is he? She doesn't comprehend the true gravity of her predicament until she turns him onto his back. She sees no cop is going to buy her story, so she attempts to remove all the evidence of her stopover. And then she rambles back out, into the intense Los Angeles light. And in a shot from high overhead, she seems like a lab rat, ensnared in some sort of a experiment. It's so well directed that we almost forget how preposterous it is to think this frame-up would ever work. This beginning promises an exceptional thriller. Alas, The Morning After never matches its initial potential, not as a thriller, at least. The narrative has some gaping disparities in it, and thrillers need to be impermeable. This one chalks various elements up to pure coincidence, the ultimate motives are flimsy at best and the fact that the body keeps reappearing like a cartoon or a take-off on The Trouble with Harry brings the movie too close to qualifying as '80s schlock for one to become seriously absorbed in the plot. But The Morning After merits a look anyhow, owing to the characters that it cultivates, and the performances of Fonda and Jeff Bridges in the two leads. She plays an alcoholic actress long past her heyday. He plays an ex-cop who happens to be fixing his car right where she topples into his back seat and implores him to get her away from there, quick. Bridges stays in a petty, manufactured shed, where he repairs appliances. This is all Fonda needs. She's a veteran of the live-fast-die-young subscription, her friends all bartenders and drag queens, her separated husband Raul Julia the most upmarket hairdresser in Beverly Hills. Nevertheless Bridges is reliable and sound, and she could do with a friend. Naturally it's axiomatic that they fall in love. The plot of The Morning After is not nearly as well captured or interesting as the day-by-day grinds of these characters. Actually, I can picture a movie that would omit the murder and just trail the genuine human development between Fonda and Bridges. The thriller filler isn't needed, although given that they used it, couldn't they have made it credible? The entire murder plot gets such slapdash treatment that perhaps I oughtn't have been startled by the big scene in which the killer's exposed. I've seen innumerable revelations in innumerable thrillers, but seldom one as transparent as this one, where the surprises are just announced in an improbable monologue. Indeed, the fact that nearly every opinion I've heard or read of this film seems unanimous in terms of James Hicks' script, including mine, even down to the 'It starts off well but then it gets really forced and jerry-built' gist, it seems pretty clear-cut what makes the film not quite work, though it'd be a misstep to write this movie off simply because the story is so rickety. It's worth making an allowance for due to the performances. Fonda and Bridges are superb in the film, and their rapport, founded on skeletons in the cupboard, bitterness and ulterior motives, gets especially remarkable. They create tangible unspoken feelings together, and they have some dialogue that feels more alive than most starry-eyed chatter in the movies. Before the schmaltzy final scene, not even close to prototypical of Lumet, there's a single shot in which all Bridges and Fonda do is face each other, and we know, and fee, that they want to have sex with each other. It's just energy, and it works wonders. I also admire how Lumet reinforces every color. Living in Los Angeles is part of the debilitating influence on the character played by Jane Fonda. All color is exaggerated: red redder, blue filters, orange hazes. He creates an L.A. comprised of vast flat surfaces of pastels and aggressively sunlit exposed areas. He traps the inebriated Fonda on this landscape like a helplessly insignificant insect sought for squashing by unknown feet, and the imagery makes the whole first hour of the movie much more ominous than it merits. Too bad they couldn't have take steps with the script.

All the right ingredients but what happened?...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 23 December 2006]

THE MORNING AFTER is one of those films that begins with an intriguing opening--JANE FONDA wakes up in bed next to a murdered man and, because she was in an alcoholic daze, can't remember even entering the man's apartment. So far, so good. Nice hook to draw the viewer in.

But as the story unwinds, it becomes clear that the writers ran out of material for a substantial story about midway through. The weaknesses are offset somewhat by the good performance of JEFF BRIDGES as a helpful policeman who agrees to help Fonda solve the who-dun-it aspect of her plight.

It's all beautifully staged and photographed in a sunlit Los Angeles and worth watching for the performances alone. Fonda is at her best as the worried alcoholic who refuses to believe she could have committed the crime and Bridges provides some good chemistry as a co-star.

But the ending (with its revelation) is a bit disappointing after all the build-up to a conclusion. RAOUL JULIA and KATHY BATES have minor roles but the weak ending is hard to dismiss.

Fonda won an Oscar nomination and deserved it for creating a dimensional character in a story thin on believable characters.

Character driven thriller

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 14 May 2022]

I was entertained. The murder mystery isn't going to impress anyone since you can count the number of suspects on one hand with a couple fingers left over. But the characters are interesting and are brought to life well by capable actors. Bridges' character is what would be termed today "casually racist." Fonda's character keeps bringing it up too despite getting further involved with the guy. It's kind of fascinating honestly. Both actors do well making you care about people that, on paper, seem pretty unlikable. Raul Julia steals every scene he's in.

I've come to appreciate Sidney Lumet's later work more as I get older. Not saying you have to be older to like his films but in my case it worked out that way. He wasn't afraid of complex characters, even offensive ones. It's hard not to respect that as we get closer to Demolition Man's vision of the future every year.

Fonda looks good as a has been

[Movie_Man 500 · 6 September 2002]

While Jane's last Oscar nominated performance (before she retired from films) has its moments, the film falls apart after she takes off her blonde wig. I thought she looked like a knockout with it on. Some really well photographed scenery pops up near the first half and there's a long extended sequence that has her clean up the dead man's apartment, which is filled with many sly touches; alas the beginning is ten times better and more developed than the weak conclusion. Jeff Bridges adds a nice touch to the story but was it really wise for the Fonda character to place all her trust in a total stranger? Kathy Bates has a cameo as a neighbor before she hit the big time scaring everyone in Misery. She's on the screen maybe 10 seconds to a minute, tops. Overall, the parts, as other reviewers have stated, are juicier than the whole.

Mysterious thriller

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 28 September 2017]

Everyone knows the dreaded and proverbial phrase "the morning after", and most of us have experienced it at some point in our lives. In this film, Jane Fonda experiences a disastrous morning after. She wakes up next to a dead man and has no memory of the night before.

Jane was up for an Oscar for her role as an alcoholic has-been actress, and she gives a fantastic performance as a boozy ol' broad. Her leading man is Jeff Bridges, a former policeman recovering alcoholic, and he's the only ally in her quest to prove her innocence.

If you like sexy mysterious thrillers, you're definitely going to want to rent The Morning After. I'm not really a fan of Jeff Bridges, but Jane more than makes up for it. She's beautiful, does a great job, and is really easy to root for. I mean, do you really think Jane Fonda would stab someone to death during a heavy night of drinking? Well, you'll have to watch the movie to find out if she did.

An Enjoyable Reworking Of "The Blue Gardenia" (1953)

[seymourblack-1 · 7/10 · 2 July 2014]

"The Morning After" is a murder mystery that features romance, blackmail and suspense but it's the relationship between the story's two leading characters that provides the main focus of the action and also most of the humour and interest that make this movie so enjoyable to watch. Its opening scene is really intriguing and sets the story up brilliantly. What follows is loosely based on "The Blue Gardenia" (1953) and like its predecessor, this movie features a woman who was with a murder victim on the night he died, awakens the next morning unable to remember what happened and then has to put her trust in someone of whom she's not certain.

Alex Sternbergen (Jane Fonda) is an alcoholic ex-actress who wakes up in a strange bed next to the corpse of a man she doesn't know and has no memory of how she got there. She's immediately convinced that the police won't believe her story because she has a history of becoming violent and suffering blackouts after her drinking binges and had even stabbed her first husband with a paring knife during one of her blackouts. In her panic, Alex heads to the airport but can't get out of L.A. because it's the Thanksgiving holiday and all the flights are booked. Feeling desperate and anxious, she gets involved in a car accident and races away from the scene into a nearby parking lot where she meets Turner Kendall (Jeff Bridges).

In her efforts to escape the other irate drivers involved in the car accident, Alex gets into Turner's car and together they drive away from her pursuers. Turner's an easy-going, bigoted, ex-cop who says "I like to repair stuff, whatever people are through with" and works mainly on small appliances like toasters. Turner and Alex gradually get to know each other and fall in love. She doesn't know whether or not she was responsible for the dead man's murder and he tries to help her to solve the mystery. The problem is she isn't sure whether or not she can trust him, especially as her estranged husband Joaquin "Jacky" Manero (Raul Julia), who's a very successful hairdresser in Beverly Hills, warns her that Turner is actually trying to frame her. Alex and Turner stick together and eventually discover who the murderer is and also the extent to which blackmail was involved in the crime.

"The Morning After" makes a strong impression visually with good use being made of interesting locations and a colour palette that uses a range of pastels quite effectively. The scene in which Alex escapes from the apartment where the killing had taken place is particularly memorable because at a time when she's feeling desperate and scared, being situated in a highly lit, deserted-looking street in which she's dwarfed by the structures around her, really emphasises her plight and reinforces the impression that, in these very open surroundings, there really is no hiding place.

Jane Fonda and Jeff Bridges are both exceptional in this movie and the chemistry between them is the icing on the cake. Fonda (in an Oscar nominated role) makes Alex's combination of toughness, vulnerability and self-doubt totally believable and Bridges is wonderfully subtle in a performance that creates a lot of distrust about how sincere he is in his concern for Alex's predicament. The dialogue they share is also superb and some of Alex's cutting remarks really sting.

There's a great deal to enjoy in "The Morning After" and the whole experience of watching it is extremely entertaining. Its only disappointment, however, is the resolution to the mystery which, unfortunately, isn't up to the standard of everything else that precedes it.

Mourning what should have been a really good film.

[brefane · 6/10 · 24 January 2012]

The script is as scatter-brained and uncertain as its lead character. It's the first and last script to date by James Hicks aka James Cresson. A comedy thriller romance mystery character study, it contains gaping wholes in logic, red herrings, inconsistencies in characterizations, lengthy expositions, and a preposterous plot to frame Fonda's character. Nonetheless, the talents involved particularly Fonda and Bridges make it consistently watchable and involving starting with the opening scene. It's inoffensive and low key with funny dialog and good interaction between the two leads. An entertaining and pleasant way to kill time. Sidney Lumet's direction lacks the necessary urgency and tension to make the suspense aspects work and the viewer assumes from the start that Alex Sternberg aka Viveca Van Loren is not the murderer. The film captures LA well enough and provided Fonda with her last good film role and Oscar nomination to date.

Ridiculous melodrama...

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 1 January 2007]

Overripe concoction in a shiny, sterile package. Jane Fonda plays a glamorously burnt-out alcoholic in Los Angeles who wakes up one morning after a bender and discovers a bloody corpse next to her in bed. Jeff Bridges (talking slowly with narrowed eyes) is an ex-cop who helps Fonda piece together the previous night's events. Soaper-cum-mystery-thriller, directed by an uninspired Sidney Lumet, defies logic and credibility at nearly every turn. Fonda works hard to elevate the proceedings, and received a surprising Oscar nod for her efforts, but she can't overcome the clumsiness of the plot's conception (nor the lousy screenplay). A huge disappointment for noir buffs. ** from ****

Good acting, great dialogues, bad script

[anijdam · 7/10 · 11 January 2001]

Even though this movie is not what it could have been, it is still a pleasant sit. Jane Fonda is convincing as a distressed alcoholic actress who couldn't quite make it and Jeff Bridges is perfect as a sluggish mysterious well-doer. Although the script is a major failure, it does contain some very enjoyable close to real-life dialogues. The music is at times irritating and suggests more than is actually happening. If you're going to watch this movie, you'll have to watch it for some of its scenes, not for the overall quality.

A could have been

[ryancm · 5/10 · 27 December 2007]

For what it is, MORNING AFTER is good, but could have been great with a sturdier screen play. Interesting premise, but somehow it really doesn't take off. The ending is denouncement is convoluted and not very satisfying. Hard to believe that what happened actually happened! One major error is when Jeff Bridges leaves Jane Fonda off and she goes back into the loft. Bright daylight. When she enters its completely dark out as she closes the drapes. Bad continuity. This is basically a two character movie, maybe three with the Raoul character. Noboby else has anything than a bit. Look close for Kathy Bates before she hit it big. All toll, worth a look, but don't think too hard.

Lumet in California, bravo Bartkowiak

[manuel-pestalozzi · 8/10 · 27 November 2008]

This movie was much better than I had reason to expect after reading the comments on IMDb. Its biggest flaw must be the way The Morning After is marketed. It is not really a taut whodunit thriller but rather a study of a particular place in a particular era with particular characters – a dark comedy and a love drama at the same time. The second biggest flaw is the grating, almost ever present musical score. But for the rest this movie is nearly perfect.

I should call The Morning After an expose of Southern California in the mid 1980s. The sets and the photography (a lot frontal or near frontal wide angle shots of curbside sceneries) are very accomplished – Schrader's American Gigolo came to mind. The sun is always shining, the air seems to be absolutely pure, even places that should be dirty (back yards, industrial sites etc.) are painted in gaudy colors and squeaky clean. But the minds of the principal protagonists are desperately foggy and muddled. California appears to be a big, decaying fake idyll. People go there to die, I once read in a novel by Nathanael West (The Day of the Locust – also made into a great, underrated California movie, by the way). And that more or less sums up the feel of it.

The cast is kept wonderfully small. Jane Fonda is brilliant and she would have deserved the Oscar for this part. For several long scenes she acts alone in front of the camera and she really conveys the desperation and the natural charm of the character (and she's really attractive, too, despite the boozing). Jeff Bridges is a reliable support here. Also very good is Raul Julia as Fonda's somehow estranged husband. He plays a high end hairdresser with a snazzy salon and at times displays an unexpected but highly welcome gentlemanly charm.

Until now I always thought of Sidney Lumet as an American East Coast director. It is the only one of his movies I know that is set in California. He seems to have his own way of appreciating that place. There is a director's comment on the DVD I purchased and I am looking forward to listening to that.

A Well-Done Mystery Thriller!

[namashi_1 · 7/10 · 2 September 2015]

The Late/Great Sidney Lumet's 'The Morning After' is a A Well-Done Mystery Thriller! The narrative holds you, at most times. Also, the performances are ace!

'The Morning After' Synopsis: A woman wakes up next to a murdered man. Did she do it herself, and if not, is she in danger herself?

'The Morning After' is definitely a worthy watch. But, the Writing could've been tighter. James Hicks's Screenplay is good, of course. But, I wasn't thoroughly engrossed in the first-hour. I did like the characters all through, but they deserved a more interesting fate in the first-hour. The second-hour, however, picks up momentum & the culmination, when the culprit is revealed, is superb.

Lumet's Direction is excellent, as always. He has handled every scene with conviction. Cinematography & Editing are fine.

Performance-Wise: Jeff Bridges is natural to the core, enacting his part like a pro. Jane Fonda is terrific, despite a few hammy moments. The Late/Great Raul Julia is the scene-stealer, undoubtedly. What a stellar performance!

On the whole, 'The Morning After' packs a punch.

Mediocre and predictable

[Jackal113 · 3/10 · 16 February 2008]

"The Morning After" is a tepid thriller about an alcoholic has-been actress (Jane Fonda, whose performance was inexplicably nominated for an Academy Award) who wakes up one morning with a dead man at her side and no recollection of what occurred the night before. She later happens upon an occasionally racist ex-cop (Jeff Bridges) who decides to help her. Of course by the time Bridges and Fonda are sucking face the viewer has already pieced everything together. Director Sidney Lumet, who helmed the successful adaptation of Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express," should know that if you're going to make a whodunit, there should be more than one possible suspect.

The Light vs The Dark

[Gidget · 26 August 2003]

This film most closely resembles the Film Noir of the 40's & 50's in feel and form. The only difference is the open light of LA on the Thanksgiving weekend. The scene at the airport communicates how much this City (LA) is a city where everyone comes from somewhere else. The great evacuation scene at LAX leaves lonely people like Fonda and Bridges behind, and is meant to explain the relative vacant feel of the town throughout the rest of the film.

The bright autumn light and vacant cityscape during the film is a surrealistic version of LA, which even a native like me seldom gets to see. The rest of the film is much like a "B" film noir picture, where we wonder (but not seriously) whether Jane's character may have actually done the deed in a drunken haze, and whether the Cop's will be able to get the right killer.

I love this film, not only for the scenes of LA, but for the good suspense generated by the unseen evil lurking in the all too limited shadows.

Promising Beginning but Fades

[daoldiges · 6/10 · 17 June 2018]

Fonda and this film both look good, she as a haggard, fas been alcoholic, and sunny Los Angeles nicely photographed. Bridges also gives a solid performance in this story that starts off on good fitting but gradually grows thinner as it progresses. The final disappointment is the films weak ending. If you love Fonda and/or Bridges you might still enjoy this film, but for others I wouldn't go out of my way and seek it out.

"Honey, I'm a drag queen, not a transvestite".

[PredragReviews · 7/10 · 31 May 2016]

This movie once again proves that Jane Fonda is simply the best actress alive today. She will always be remembered in the same way Bette Davis or Katherine Hepburn is remembered. Her performance here is stunning, and there is no doubt that she is the best thing about this film. I don't think Jane Fonda is capable of giving a bad performance, although her choices of film roles is sometimes questionable. Fonda plays a down-at-the-heels actress who used-to-almost-be a star, but wound up playing to a bottle of Thunderbird. Now a hopeless boozer, one step away from homelessness, she blacks out and wakes up in bed next to a stiff with serious heart-trouble: A butcher knife in his chest. Enough to give anyone the DTs... Jeff Bridges is a disabled marginally-functional ex-cop who takes in stray lushes; the perfect foil for Fonda's neurotically manic but sympathetic character.

The suspense is fairly well placed, if at times heavy-handed, the plot thickening when a sympathetic former cop, Turner Kendall (Jeff Bridges) comes onto the scene who may or may not be trustworthy. Fonda's scene with Bridges over an impromptu dinner is simply superb where she says, "I used to be an actress," her biting sarcasm mixed with self-pitying pathos and bile. The interior sets are perfectly designed and decorated. An apartment all in Mauve with matching furniture and a glowing turquoise pool beyond a balcony. Buildings in Yellow and Red. Everything designed to draw you in. There are times when the dialogue seems a bit cheesy and dated but it is so much fun watching Jane here I don't care. I dig this out once a year to watch and I think most Fonda fans will love it.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

A decent but forgettable suspense thriller

[KnightsofNi11 · 6/10 · 27 August 2011]

Would you ever think that Jane Fonda and Jeff Bridges had chemistry on screen? Well if you want to see it then you won't really find it here. What you will find is good performances from the two, but with a fairly weak script and a story that mildly entertains. The Morning After is the story about a washed up actress who wakes up with a hangover next to a dead man one morning. She has no recollection of the previous night and no idea what to do with herself in this situation. She finds help from a mysterious young man named Turner Kendall, played by Jeff Bridges, but suspense and mystery build as her situation becomes increasingly dire. She doesn't know if this strange Turner character is a blessing or a curse and whether she should trust him, or be deathly afraid of him. And so the mystery begins in this halfway decent suspense thriller of which there's not a whole lot to say.

The Morning After is helped by strong performances and an engaging story that leads you on to want to know the outcome. It is hurt by a weak script and the lack of originality it faces in its midsection. It starts out strong, opening with Jane Fonda's character waking up in bed next to a man with a knife in his chest. She panics and leaves the apartment she is in and tries to get her situation under control before she decides what to do with the body. During this panic she meets Turner, and this is where the mystery begins.

The film builds its suspense nicely, but after a while it starts to flat line and doesn't get any more interesting until the end. A romance begins between Fonda and Bridges, not unexpectedly to say the least, and for a while nothing much happens. The two characters are developed and their relationship grows, but after a while it becomes redundant and their back stories don't end up being all that creative. Fonda is an actress who used to be big and has now fallen into obscurity. Bridges was a big shot cop who suffered an injury and is now a nobody. These character profiles are important to the overall arc of the story, but they don't make our two main characters all too interesting, leading the film as a whole to not be all too interesting. Plus, we have a script that leaves a lot to be desired. But when the film finally comes to its conclusion it isn't something I saw coming, but in retrospect I probably should have been able to see it from a mile away. I can, however, give the movie credit for having a very exciting climax, but that leads into a final scene which wraps the film up a little too nicely.

When you get right down to it, The Morning After is just sort of there. It isn't great, it isn't terrible, but it isn't something I will remember. I won't be thinking about this film in a few weeks and I might not even remember watching it. It's a movie that tells a mildly interesting story with mildly interesting characters played by great actors. It's more or less your typical suspense thriller, and there's nothing wrong with that, but there's really nothing here that is going to stick with me.

See LA and Die.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 6 April 2009]

Jane Fonda is Viveca, a faded actress and major drunk of this or any other generation, who wakes up in bed with a strange man next to her who happens to have a knife sticking out of his chest. She draws a blank. Did she kill him or not? She cleans the guy's apartment of any trace of herself before leaving and gets home by hitching a ride with a retired policeman, Jeff Bridges. She gets drunk again, wakes up in the morning and tries to take a shower but finds the same dead body propped up in the shower stall.

Her estranged husband, Raoul Julia, does what he can to help but he's involved with his tony hair dressing business and Fonda winds up turning to Bridges for safety, succor, and sex.

Then the plot gets a little twisted.

I think Sidney Lumet must have gotten lost during a binge in New York night spots and woke up in Los Angeles. But he gets it just about right. When Fonda first leaves the corpse's apartment she finds herself on an unfamiliar street, the kind that characterizes LA perfectly. The opening sequence shows us blank warehouse walls on empty industrial boulevards and the avenues of pastel, middle-class apartments are equally devoid of pedestrians. That's the difference between LA and New York. In Los Angeles nobody walks. In New York if you step out your door you are mugged by the crowd.

Fonda is a professional actress undone by age but the role is played with craggy inconsistency. She's pretty tough. She makes wisecracks to the cadaver while she's scrubbing his apartment. She's aggressive and manipulative at LAX. On the other hand, she plays Viveca as a shrill, nervous wreck with a semiquaver in her voice, even when she's supposed to be mellowed out on Thunderbird, a cheap wine. However, Fonda looks just fine considering that she's no longer the teenager of her earlier movies. She's just my age. I saw a recent photo of her and she still looks stunningly beautiful, as do I.

I've always like Raoul Julia's performances. He's reliable, reassuring, good in almost everything he does. Too bad he wasn't around longer. Jeff Bridges usually brings something unique to each of his roles but he's hobbled here by the limitations written into this stereotype of stability. He's a handyman, the eternal fixer-upper, a guy who takes old busted things and refurbishes them, every wife's dream of a man who is good with a wrench and knows how to reintroduce the sputtering home computer to the concept of reliability. He's a man of nature, comfortable enough in his own skin to use ethnic epithets like "beaner" and "spade" good naturedly and without self consciousness, a Mellors the grounds keeper for our time.

The script has little hackneyed touches that I find hard to believe originated with such a seasoned and talented director as Sidney Lumet. Fonda is backing out of the dead man's apartment, bumps into someone, there is a sting in the score, and it's merely Jeff Bridges who has followed her without Fonda or the audience knowing it. It's done twice, and it's pretty cheap. And when Fonda changes her hair from phony blond to natural chestnut or burnt sienna or whatever it is, a grand dramatic display is made of it. The viewer is supposed to applaud because, now, THAT'S the iconic Jane Fonda we know and love. No phoniness here. (She smokes and drinks during the first half of the movie, but not the last half.) The score is by Paul Chihara and the main theme is carried by a soprano saxophone. This might have been a novelty in 1986 but now, after ten years of Kenny G, it's enough to induce thyrotoxic storm.

On the admirable side, she simply stops drinking for a couple of days and is determined never to get drunk again. We are spared the tears and anguish we might experience if she went through withdrawal -- the bottle looming in the foreground, the trembling hand, the half-full glass poured back into the bottle. Still, I have to say that the ending of Lumet's "Verdict" was more realistic. There, Paul Newman's drunk has found himself at the end but it doesn't stop him from drinking.

Also on the good side of the ledger, some snappy lines in the dialog. Viveca's real name is Alexandra Sternbergen. Bridges prefers her real name and so does she -- "In arguments, it's harder to yell 'Alexandra'." It's got a bit of spark.

Features some good acting by Fonda, the rest is mediocre

[steiner-sam · 5/10 · 6 June 2023]

It's a thriller set in Los Angeles on Thanksgiving Day in 1986 and several days after. It follows the reactions of an alcoholic ex-actor who, on Thanksgiving morning, wakes up next to a dead man with a knife in his chest.

Alexandra Sternbergen (Jane Fonda) is a blackout alcoholic who once played a significant role in a movie. She's separated from her hairdresser husband, Joaquin Manero (Raul Julia). After a night she can't remember, she wakes up next to the body of Bobby Korshack (Geoffrey Scott), a sleazy photographer she didn't previously know.

She attempts to cover her presence in his studio and runs into an ex-cop, Turner Kendall (Jeff Bridges), who says he's on disability. "The Morning After" follows their efforts to figure out who killed Korshack if it wasn't Alexandra. We also meet Manero's new girlfriend, Isabel Harding (Diane Salinger), the daughter of a prominent judge. In a final confrontation, we learn the identity of the killer and the reason for the killing.

"The Morning After" features some good acting by Fonda as a middle-aged manipulative alcoholic. The other actors are average. The plot takes jumps that make little sense and leaves many unresolved threads. Alexandra develops a hard-to-believe trust in Turner, whose intrusive behavior was unacceptable already in the 1980s. The chemistry between Fonda and Bridges was only OK.

a bit of Hitchcock

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 30 July 2017]

Alex Sternbergen (Jane Fonda) is a drunken lush and a failed actress pass her prime. After a night of blackout drinking, she wakes up next to notorious photographer Bobby Korshack stabbed to death. She calls her non-romantic husband hairdresser Joaquin Manero (Raul Julia) who tells her to contact the cops. Instead, she tries to clean up and make a run for it. She gets into trouble at the airport and picks up a ride with the slightly racist Turner Kendall (Jeff Bridges).

Director Sidney Lumet is channeling a bit of his inner Hitchcock. He's using some bright colors and light jazzy music. It needs some darker music with more intensity. It's a tougher hang as Alex makes for an unsympathetic protagonist. It does have a few great lines like the cop who demeans Joaquin as a fag. He comes back with "How bad do you wanna know?" There are moments of intrigue but I could never truly care for Alex. It's not Jane Fonda's fault. It's really the character.

Forgettable; Fonda, music are 80's bad

[pc95 · 4/10 · 1 September 2005]

I love 80s movies in general but this is pretty bad. The acting especially by Jane Fonda is below average to poor. Raul Julia's talent is completely wasted, and the only halfway decent acting is by Jeff Bridges; if not for him this movie would be utterly terrible. The music is grating, 80's sitcom style unlike a lot of 80s films which hold great soundtracks or original music. The story is woefully under-developed too. It relies too heavily non-existent chemistry of Fonda and Bridges who must have an age difference here of 12 years - and there's little suspense or atmosphere of mystery. There is no supporting cast either. So I recommend giving this one a miss, unless you really like nostalgic sitcomy music with an aging inept Jane Fonda. The final scene is a microcosm of the whole film, with Bridges doing his best to try to hold up scenes that sink.

Jane Fonda wakes up in the 1980's version of "Lost Weekend"

[psmoviemaven · 10/10 · 16 January 2002]

Jane Fonda, Raul Julia, and Jeff Bridges are the main charactors in this suspense thriller. Jane is excellent as never-quite-made-it / has-been actress with a longterm drinking problem. Jane's falling star crashes right into Jeff Bridges who is always good as a laidback but tragically flawed loner. Lucky for Jane, Mr Bridges likes to "fix things other people have discarded". Raul just shines as only he can. Too bad we lost him early. Great mystery, great suspense, great acting. Another excellent video in my personal collection for rainy days. This movie has all the elements to hold up for an encore performance.

Good acting carries the lesser writing

[Mr-Fusion · 6/10 · 3 January 2018]

I can tell you right now that "thriller' isn't a great word for "The Morning After". Its virtues certainly don't lie in the problematic script and uneven pacing. It's mostly the performances that are involving. The cast here is top-notch; Raul Julia, (I mean c'mon), Jeff Bridges in an unusual role, and Jane Fonda uniquely memorable as a has-been actress.

What's fascinating is what Sidney Lumet does with the warehouse district of L.A., transforming it from smoggy industry to pastel-rich arthouse. Now, that's something.

6/10

a lame dog of a thriller

[mjneu59 · 3/10 · 9 December 2010]

An over-the-hill Hollywood starlet (Jane Fonda, surely not typecast?) wakes up in a stranger's bed, only to find her companion dead with a dagger in his chest. The set up is immediately compelling, but it's the only worthwhile scene in an otherwise strangely unthrilling thriller. The film is a juicy premise with no payoff, presenting just two possible suspects (only one logically implicated), and hustling in a vague motive for the crime, almost out if the blue, just before the final credits. Never mind the actual details, which in retrospect are about as memorable as Fonda's one-night stand. Jeff Bridges co-stars as a benevolent ex-cop from Bakersfield (who meets Fonda entirely by chance), and Raul Julia plays her ambitious hair stylist ex-husband. Which of the two is the more likely killer?