Blue Sky

Starring: Jessica Lange, Tommy Lee Jones, Powers Boothe, Carrie Snodgress, Amy Locane, Chris O'Donnell, Mitchelle Ryan, Anna Klemp
Directed by: Tony Richardson
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Romance
1994

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A military officer (Tommy Lee Jones) working on the nuclear program struggles with his risk-taking wife (Jessica Lange).

Review:

Tim: It took me a long time to track down Blue Sky. I was watching all the Academy Award Best Actress winners and I had to skip over this movie for a few years. When I finally tracked it down in April 2020, I was fairly disappointed with the end result. It really bothers me how many Best Actress winners were in subpar movies. I did a lot of soul searching- do I just not enjoy movies featuring female leads? This is absurd and not true- the problem is that women in Hollywood have historically gotten fewer opportunities, fewer great projects than men. And so, quite often you get a film like this. Jessica Lange is excellent in the lead role, but the movie around her fails to live up to that standard. This happens far too often.

I'm still not sure what was going on in this movie. It feels like multiple different movies, all crammed together into one package. It gives the film a schizophrenic vibe to it. More than anything, this movie feels like a romantic melodrama. Man, so much of this movie tucks into that category. It also features a coming-of-age subplot (which admittedly feels connected to the main story). However, the film also tries to be this drama about a military coverup involving the nuclear program and the lengths they would go to in order to protect their secrets. It's a bit too much for one film, especially considering this is only 1 hour, 41 minutes long. It gives you whiplash, to try and consider all these disparate aspects of this story.

I'm not a fan of melodrama, but that's where this movie spends the bulk of its time. The story isn't one you often see. We see the patriarch of the family, played by Tommy Lee Jones. He's a buttoned up, scientific army officer. His wife, played by Jessica Lange, is a free-spirit, a woman characterized by high highs and low lows. She enjoys the company of others, especially men, and has more than a flirtatious streak to her. So much of this film is focused on the relationship dynamic between these two and the impact it has on their two daughters. This aspect of the film is fascinating in a way, similar to how it's difficult to look away from a car accident. Some of these scenes are cringe-worthy (in a good way, as it confronts uncomfortable aspects of relationships). This aspect of the film works more often than it doesn't. The biggest benefit is that it allows Jessica Lange to give her intriguing, energetic performance. She plays this woman who seems to be somewhat unstable, but has multiple sides to her. It's difficult to characterize her- she almost defies expectation. She can be sweet and act conventionally, but she's capable of surprising you, of venturing far outside what is socially acceptable. It's a wonderful performance and atypical to the kinds of roles most actresses get. It's not surprising that she won the Academy Award for Best Actress- it's powerful performance that has depth and complexity to it. She's easily the best part of the movie. She's what you think about when the film ends. Tommy Lee Jones is good, too. I like Jones and he's always solid. That's how I felt about his performance here. A bit unremarkable, but I don't have any complaints. Powers Boothe added a fun, devilish performance. It was fun seeing Chris O'Donnell in a small supporting role. He was still figuring out the whole "acting" thing.

While that aspect of the movie mostly works, the melodrama does tend to be a bit grating. The film falls apart when it tries to tell that story while simultaneously telling this nuclear accident conspiracy story. That felt like it could have been a completely different movie. That aspect of the film needed more time and attention. It was jarring to go from the husband-wife drama to a governmental conspiracy. When the film tries to do both of these things, it falls apart. The ending of the film is utterly ridiculous. It makes no sense based on what the film told us about these characters for the first 75% of the film. I could only shake my head and wonder how this could have gone so poorly. None of it is believable and it feels like this film tried to tell two different stories by cramming them together in one package.

Blue Sky isn't a bad movie. It's decent, but deeply flawed. As a whole, the movie has so many faults and isn't very memorable. The one saving grace is the incredibly strong performance of Lange. It's not surprising that not only was Lange's the only Academy Award this film won, it's the only nomination it got. This is a decent movie with one great performance. You can (and should) applaud Lange for her work, but she deserved a far better movie around her.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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