5/5 Careful out there, it's an ugly crowd. They're sending back the cheese balls
  by C. CRADDOCK (Bakersfield)
Steve Kloves came out of nowhere and wrote and directed a fabulous film. How did he do it? He got everything so right. The writing and directing is so great, you would have thought he was a veteran. The Baker Boys (Jeff and Beau Bridges) are brothers who have never had day jobs, but work in hotel lounges and bars with a piano duo act. Business slows down, so they take on a singer (Michelle Pfeiffer), which boosts their business, but also complicates things. The story could have been a cliché, but instead it is like a dazzling solo that rarely if ever hits a wrong note.

Kloves is the master of words, and the master of sound and vision. The imagery tells a story where one picture can be worth a thousand words. The use of music is also effective. The scenes of Michelle singing are the high points, but other musical interludes, featuring Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett, and Dave Grusin also stir the emotions. The dialogue is snappy, with brother Jack Baker (Jeff Bridges), a man of few, but well-chosen words. Short choppy sentences, like Bogart or Phillip Marlowe in a film noir hard-boiled detective story. It's like Ernest Hemmingway worked on the screenplay. Oftentimes a line will be repeated, by another character, once the tables have turned. Watch for it. Play a drinking game, and take a swig whenever he does it. Like the jazz played after hours by Jack Baker, this film has a cult following. Perhaps not a lot of people know about this film, but those that do really love it. One of the films biggest fans is J.K. Rowling, and perhaps that is why Steve Kloves now toils in Potter's field.

Michelle Pfeiffer sang surprisingly well. If she was interested, she could have had a great singing career. I was watching her in Batman Returns as Selina Kyle / Cat Woman, and she was lousy. But this film restored my faith in her acting. As noted in Beneath Mulholland: Thoughts on Hollywood and Its Ghosts by David Thomson, her character, Susie Diamond never smiles. Thomson has a story in there where he ruminates on what would happen if a casting agent saw her talent for not smiling and sent her out on an audition. Is that the secret to her style? Is she the Anti-Julia Roberts? One thing is for sure; Susie Diamond is Jack's perfect foil.

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Susie Diamond: Listen, you're not going soft on me, are you? I mean, you're not going to start dreaming about me and waking up all sweaty and looking at me like I'm some sort of princess when I burp?
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Jeff oftentimes plays characters called Jack (Jack Warrick in The Muse, Jack Kelton in American Heart, Jack Lucas in The Fisher King, President Jackson Evans in The Contender, Duane Jackson in The Last Picture Show). Like many of his Jack characters, this one has an edge. He is not a nice guy. He is brooding, angry, with a large chip on his shoulder, always on the verge of exploding into violence. On the other hand, he is an artist with a sensitive side, though he keeps it well hidden. He loves his dog, Eddie, so he can't be all bad. Jeff Bridges gave one of his great performances here, rivaling even The Dude from The Big Lebowski. The Dude abides. Jack Baker abides as well. There is excellent interplay between Jeff and Michelle as Jack and Susie.

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Jack Baker: What do you want from me? You want me to tell you to stay, hmm? Is that what you're looking for? You want me to get down on my knees and beg you to save the Baker Boys from doom? Forget it, sweetheart. We survived for 15 years before you strutted onto the scene. Fifteen years. Two seconds, you're bawling like a baby. You shouldn't be wearing a dress; you should be wearing a diaper.
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Jeff & Beau Bridges were excellent as brothers, because they really are brothers. They portrayed the sibling rivalry so well.
There was a lot of love and respect between them, but also, like most brothers, a lot of fighting and bickering as well. Great scene near the beginning where Jack sprays liquid hair on Frank, as per his request. It sets the tone right off. Also a later scene where Frank dances with Jack to Benny Goodman's Moonglow in the hotel as he explains to Susie how Jack taught him to dance, which helped him woo his wife. Throughout there is great brotherly interaction, where they can communicate with each other with just a look, like in the scene where they audition the singers, the first 37 of whom couldn't even carry a tune in a bucket.

Which brings us to Jennifer Tilly as Monica Moran, real name Blanche. Her rendition of The Candy Man was superbly horrible. I loved her nervous gestures where she puts her hands in her sweater--and that voice! Guess she has made a career out of acting like a bad singer or actress, and doing it very well. She was nominated for an Oscar for playing an earnest but untalented actress in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway. Here, she is just so perfect, but then all the singers in the audition montage were all fabulously horrible, though Tilly managed to top them all.

Bottom line is The Fabulous Baker Boys is fabulous. Susie gives Jack tough love when she realizes that he has real musical talent and is wasting it on the lounge circuit. There is a romance, but it is between a boy and his piano. Also, by the way, Jack and Susie. Theirs is a romance that avoids sentimentality, avoids a cloying Hollywood ending, yet you feel that Jack and Susie will get together. Just an intuition (take a swig, those of you who are playing the Baker Boys drinking game).

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Jack Baker: You let that guy turn us into clowns tonight. We were always small time, but we were never clowns.
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Masked and Anonymous (2003) Jeff Bridges was Tom Friend
Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000) Jennifer Tilly was Jo
The Muse (1999) Jeff Bridges was Jack Warrick
The Big Lebowski (1998) Jeff Bridges was Jeffrey Lebowski - The Dude
Bound (1996) Jennifer Tilly was Violet
Batman Returns (1992) Michelle Pfeiffer was Catwoman / Selina Kyle
The Fisher King (1991) Jeff Bridges was Jack Lucas
Tucker - The Man and His Dream (1988) Jeff Bridges was Preston Tucker
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) Michelle Pfeiffer was Madame de Tourvel
The Witches of Eastwick (1987) Michelle Pfeiffer was Sukie Ridgemont

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Waitress at the Ambassador Lounge: Careful out there, it's an ugly crowd. They're sending back the cheese balls.
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5/5 "Michelle Pfeiffer is a helluva singer"
  by Scott N. Burton (Fairfield,CT USA)
"The Fabulous Baker Boys" may have been released twenty years ago,but it still holds up very well-Jeff & Beau Bridges portray a duo who perform in several cocktail lounges in and around Seattle-The crowds are rather sparse in the places they perform at-They then decide to add a female singer to their act-After auditioning several ladies who fail to make the grade,they choose the ultra sexy Susie Diamond,played to perfection by Michelle Pfeiffer-The act is now filling hotel ballrooms everywhere-Unfortunately,there is friction between the brothers when Susie falls madly in love with the Jeff Bridges character-This movie is rated R and deservedly so because it contains profanity & sexual situations-For me,Michelle Pfeiffer made this movie a box office smash-She has a beautiful singing voice-Listen to her take on such standards as "Makin' Whoopee" & "My Funny Valentine" & you'll see why-Highly recommended.

5/5 The Fabulous Baker Boys
  by Cindy Ecclefield
I like the movie and so does my husband. Very entertaining and the cast is excellent.

3/5 Doesn't sizzle as much now.
  by ADRIENNE MILLER (TENNESSEE)
The Fabulous Baker Boys starring Jeff and Beau Bridges is somewhat dated now but thanks to Michelle Pfeiffer - she owns this film with her sex appeal. I have always been a huge fan of Pfeiffer, not only can she sing, she is an incredible actress. The love triangle is the best part of the film but overall I kinda lost interest over the years with this movie.

4/5 it's the understated scenes that make this film work
  by A. Omega (los angeles)
Okay, you know the story, the music, (MF on the piano - I get it - but get past it) etc. But it's the understated scenes that give this film its real life texture. To wit:

The female singer auditions - smart humor; way before American Idol was even a thought - good fun.

Beau Bridges' character getting help (from his brother)with his spray-on hair (can I get some spray-paint-can SFX? - thanks) - more good fun.

Jeff Bridges playing daytime-no-one-around quiet solo jazz piano at 'Henry's' - when DG (he did the piano work for JBs' character) plays non-busy jazz keys - his soul leaks out.

When Jeff Bridges' character reminds Blanch the waitress that "it's cold outside".

The ending. I'll wager the writer/director had to fight hard for this one as he went off the Hollywood ending menu - good thing he did - it's just what the real world ordered.