Did you people see the same film I saw?

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Tennessee Williams' 'The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond' is a found screenplay that he never got to put on the stage during his lifetime, so when it was discovered among some papers everyone was ecstatic. This story however, is far from the classics he usually wrote. The character Fisher Willow is a débutante and an heiress, but not the usual conventional ones. She speaks her mind and does as she pleases and cares little of what others think of her, and this should make her lovable to the viewers but it doesn't really. There is a dark side to her, not unlike the dark sides to Blanche Dubois (A Streetcar Named Desire) or Brick Pollitt (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) from prior Tennessee Williams' plays. Her dark side is more innocent and tender but it is not fully explored or explained. The screenplay doesn't really understand her and so the audience doesn't really understand her. And we as a society tend to dislike things we cannot understand.Her love interest Jimmy Dobyne is equally as ambiguous as she is. He is poor and his father and mother are not (currently) fit parents, or really fit to do anything. Because of this he walks about with the weight of his family burdens on his shoulders but you can't really get a read on him either. He and Fisher are more than likely kindred spirits and it is made apparent that they've interacted before the actual story begins but it is not apparent just how long or how well they know each other. Jimmy thinks Fisher "Too good" for him, but is this just an excuse to not be with her? He doesn't seem interested in her romantically and Fisher doesn't seem to care, knowing that her money can buy her anything she wants, including him.Bryce Dallas Howard tackles the role with a mysticism that delves into the human psyche in a rather private way. You get the feeling that she knows the character inside and out but she won't share that information with us. Her portrayal should have been more obvious or blatant so that we could be right there with her. Chris Evans was spotty and unsure, perhaps because his character was, but again we are not confident that this is the reason. Tennessee Williams' lost script was not lost but put away. It is clear to me that he wasn't finished with the story or with the characters. Some revision was necessary and a goal was needed because currently the story seems to meander about unsure where it is going to take you. That's not to say that the movie isn't good. This is a great draft of a story that promises interesting and lovable characters along with a plot that is both ridiculous and relatable. It is after all the little things that we do or that happen to us that alter our lives. 'The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond' is currently no diamond, but still the rough with which the diamond is made. Not a wholly unpleasant viewing. 6.5/10

Somewhere between identifiable conventionalism and unconventional realism is the emotional tone that encompasses The Loss of a Tear Drop Diamond. It is sort of contrived but not too incredible and surprisingly heart warming. Although at times it can be equally heart chilling. Either way, you enjoy the feeling, without loving the movie, but it makes it a descent watch.We are introduced to Fisher: the spoiled, self-obsessed daughter of a rich plantation owner, who is locally disliked. Fisher herself is not fond of the community but she attends parties whenever she can. She is is in search of a new escort, so she turns to Jimmy, the son of Tennessee's former governor. A poor boy who looks after his drunk father and sick mother, while Fishers only concern is to make sure she looks good with a man by her side.We come two expect two things at this point: One, Fisher as a character will grow up, and get a heart, and two, she and Jimmy will fall in love. By the end, it does happen, but not in the spectacular fashion one might expect. Indeed one good quality The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond is that it is not predictable. This is not the product of a conventional writer or a studio voice, it is the product of Tennesse William's one of America's great play writes, whose script for this must have been shelved for decades collecting dust before it was embraced. Now it feels fresh as ever.The movie is not so much driven by plot as much as it is by a movie stealing, fiery performance from Bryce Dallas Howard. She pulls the strings of the audience as well as any good director can. We hate her when we are supposed to hate her, and we love her when we are supposed to lover her. She also does a sensational job of acting with her face, which brings me to another effective quality of the movie. It is beautiful, rich and luscious, with every shot dressed up nicely. Even the diamonds on Fisher's dress sparkle so brilliantly, you might find yourself flirting with the question of whether any digital effects were used. I've certainly never seen a sunrise as golden as it does here.If there is a problem with the movie, it needs a little more time to invest in characters outside of Fisher. As a romance, the movie is questionable, not so much because of cheap filmaking, but because of a deliberate decision to keep things a bit distant. In fact, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond when all is said and done, is more of a drama than a romance, like William's masterpiece A Street Car Named Desire. This one has a far happier outcome than Street Car, and I will be among the few to say it but, I found it more agreeable. The Loss of A Tear Drop Diamond is crafted nicely, with a little room for improvement, but it is easily recommendable. It is strangely delightful.

LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND is a film that tries hard to be significant and important and barely keeps the viewer seated until it is over. The 'screenplay' is credited to Tennessee Williams (who has been dead since 1983), having been written in 1957, a year after 'Baby Doll', and while the screenplay may have been completed by Williams, it has obviously been 'touched up' by someone else: Williams more than likely never planned to have the work on celluloid. The cast is adequate, given the material, and the direction (Jodie Markell) is pretty shoddy. It probably would have been best to leave this 'screenplay' by one of America's greatest playwrights on the shelf. Fisher Willlow (Bryce Dallas Howard) is from wealth in Tennessee, but her family is disliked because of a levee built by the father that ruined the hopes of farmers in the area. She is a shallow, resented, needy, attention hungry woman, unmarried and past her Southern prime, having spent her 'debut years' abroad studying in Paris (and being hospitalized in Zurich for mental illness). She returns home, fancies the hunky Jimmy Dobyne (Chris Evans) who is the grandson of the ex-mayor of the town, but who spends his time caring for this alcoholic failure of a father (Will Patton) and his institutionalized mentally ill mother (Barbara Garrick). Not having viable social connections, Fisher invites Jimmy to be her social escort, buys him tuxedos and clothes to make him look like a wealthy suitor, borrows the family teardrop diamond earrings from Cornelia (Ann-Margaret), and is off to a Halloween party hosted by Julie (Mamie Gummer). On the way into the party Fisher loses one of the teardrop diamonds, and flies into a panic. She is summoned upstairs by the mother of Julie - Addie (Ellen Burstyn) - who has had multiple strokes and longs to die. Knowing that Fisher is a headstrong woman, Addie convinces Fisher to 'assist' her death by handing her what amounts to be an overdose of pills. Meanwhile, downstairs, Jimmy has taken up with a guest of Julie's - Vinnie (Jessica Collins), who has a history of being a salesclerk in a drugstore thus making her not of the same echelon as the others at the party. Apparently Jimmy and Vinnie had been friends before and passion enters seemingly binding the two social misfits. But reality steps in when Fisher discovers the developments and the social rules win out. The ending is too sanguine to mention. The elements that were the recipe for Tennessee William's highly successful plays and films are repeated here, but now we have no character with whom we can empathize: everyone is a plagiarized caricature of Williams' popular tropes. A shame. Grady Harp

I am a major fan of the works of Tennessee Williams and have everything that he has ever wrote that has been published. I also have all of the original 15 film adaptations of his work and all the remakes over the years. Tennesee Williams wrote this screenplay in 1980, but it was published posthumously in 1984. Then, we had to wait 24 years for it to be filmed. From my research, the film was made in 2008, but not released until January 2010. I do not understand the film industry's priorities that would withhold a film for two years. The film follows Tennessee Williams' screenplay very closely except for an added first scene that sets the tone for the screenplay's first scene where the underlying conflict is discussed but not shown. For most viewers, this added additional scene makes the conflict more understood rather than relying on the dialog to pick it up. It is refreshing to see a Tennessee Williams film where his screenplay is used. The majority of the screenplays for the 15 classic films were written by Gore Vidal to "clean them up" for audiences and censors. I will not discuss a synopsis of the film's characters and action. Instead, I recommend that if you like the drama of Tennessee Williams that you see this new film.