Opening Night Reviews

Another of Cassavetes' puzzling, personal, neurotic, and often brilliant productions that would have benefited from editing with a scythe. Rowlands is a nervous actress on the brink of a breakdown as she prepares to star in a show called "The Second Woman" that was written by Blondell. The entire movie takes place in the few days prior to the Broadway opening and shows the backstage turmoil of a show about to happen. Rowlands begins to fall apart when a fan of hers dies in an accident and she is forced to look hard at her life and determine what's important about it. Cassavetes usually does movies about average Joes and Janes. This time he focuses on show business to prove that those shining stars one sees on the stage are subject to the same frailties as anyone else. He is an "actor's director" in that he always seems to get superb performances. The only problem is that he never knows when to stop, and every scene could be trimmed without losing importance. If he could have been controlled and allowed some other person's creativity in the script or editing, he might have turned out a masterpiece in his lifetime.