Swoosie-Kurtz Movie Reviews

Dour playwright Eugene O'Neill took a rare comedic look at life in Ah, Wilderness!, perhaps his warmest play, here given a superb performance (based on a production by the Long Wharf Theater). Over the course of a Fourth of July weekend, a young man has his heart broken, discovers drink and loose women, and puts his heart back together again. The play contrasts young love with the enduring affection of the young man's parents--and with the failed relationship of the boy's alcoholic uncle and spinster aunt. The balance of affection and sorrow is handled with sure skill, both in the play and in the production, which features O'Neill stalwart Geraldine Fitzgerald, as well as actors like Swoosie Kurtz and Linda Hunt, who would go on to future stardom. Sweet but not saccharine, sad but not bitter, Ah, Wilderness! stands as one of O'Neill's best works. --Bret Fetzer