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00:12hey guys it's me beau i'm back here on film scene investigation channel thank you for checking out
00:18this video in today's review i'm going to be taking a look at white palace now this was a movie
00:27that
00:27was recently suggested to me um i checked out one of james spader's movies uh secretary reviewed that
00:36for the channel and yeah through conversation online someone said i should check white palace
00:41out i looked into the synopsis i saw uh the trailer on youtube and um yeah it looked pretty
00:49interesting so i thought i'd check it out just before we get into the review guys if you haven't
00:56already please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated
01:02so white palace from october 1990 was a movie that was directed by the filmmaker lewis mandoki
01:12and was based on the novel by author glenn savan shot on location in st louis missouri the film
01:20went on to make around about 17 million dollars in box office sales making it a fairly successful
01:28film when it comes to the story it focused on the character max baron a young well-educated man who
01:37was played by actor james spader at the time of meeting him he was still very much in the grieving
01:44process after recently losing his wife of course he was doing his best to cope but you know it was
01:53a
01:53struggle especially since max was still living in the same home he shared with his late wife one night
02:01max attended a party and he brought along with him some fast food to share amongst his friends but
02:10while max was very much in the mood to enjoy himself very quickly it was discovered that the fast food
02:17was wrong there were missing items burgers that weren't there and you know max basically was just really
02:24pissed off by the situation and so he decided that he was gonna make a stand and go all the
02:30way back to
02:30the restaurant to uh well get a refund i guess while all his friends were saying to him you know
02:37it's really not a
02:37big deal i think deep down max was kind of embarrassed you know of the situation so he headed back
02:45and this
02:46was when we met the character nora who was played by actress susan sarandon a middle-aged waiter who was
02:55working in the white palace diner when we saw her she was rushed off her feet she was tired she
03:02was
03:02overworked there was seemed to be no one else really kind of you know in charge of the restaurant
03:08itself and then you had max just barging in and well yeah demanding his money back nora wasn't exactly
03:16thrilled with this guy randomly coming up to her face and demanding a refund but since max was causing
03:23such a scene and since there were so many other customers to serve nora just decided to accept you know
03:30it was her fault and gave him the money back once he got his money max seemed uh you know
03:37a lot more
03:38chilled about it and just kind of walked out you know ending the dispute and that's where you thought
03:43that that was it between them but actually later that night when max went to a local bar for a
03:49drink
03:50once again bumped into nora of course this was completely unexpected and once max saw nora he immediately
03:58recognized her from a white palace restaurant he uh he wasn't too happy to see her but nora on the
04:05other hand well she was pretty drunk at that point and uh yeah wanted to start up a conversation
04:12nora was going on about this that and whatever and uh max you know he wasn't really paying attention
04:20it was just small talk between two people but eventually they did start to connect once they
04:27realized that they were both in the grieving process having recently lost some loved ones while
04:34these two people were from completely two different backgrounds through grief they were able to find a
04:43connection and start to relate to each other the couple ended up spending the night together at nora's
04:52apartment completely unexpected but as i said they had this connection one thing led to another
04:59and it was quite clear that there was an attraction between the two yes they had their differences
05:07but that didn't seem to stop them and it kind of reminds me of that old saying you know opposites
05:15attract in the coming days and weeks max and nora continued on this relationship you know growing closer
05:22together each day but it didn't take long for the cracks to appear in their relationship one of max's
05:30friends ended up getting married and of course invited max and this is would have been the perfect opportunity
05:38for max to introduce nora his you know new love interest to all of his friends and family but he
05:46decided
05:46not to he went alone and very quickly once nora found out accused max of cheating thinking that he had
05:56taken you know some other woman to the wedding nora quite rightly felt pushed out like she wasn't good
06:05enough to meet max's friends and family but that just actually wasn't the case it wasn't about that
06:12deep down max was still struggling well to come to terms with the fact that his wife his his wife
06:20that
06:20he'd loved that he'd loved that he'd married was was gone in his mind max felt that he was in
06:27some ways
06:28betraying the memory of his wife of course that wasn't the case but as i said it was like this
06:37psychological barrier that he was dealing with even though max had genuine feelings for nora
06:44he had a hard time accepting that and moving on with his life now this nicely ties in to the
06:53themes
06:53of the movie with white palace exploring grief through the characters of both max and nora the grief
07:02was pivotal as it binded both characters together with max losing his wife and nora losing her son to
07:11these were two people that were clearly deeply affected by their loss but through that were able
07:19to make a connection and well which sparked their relationship so yeah taking all that into account
07:27i think it's fair to say that white palace does give hope to its audience showing that even if someone
07:37is deeply affected by loss there's always you know a new horizon right you know the sun will rise again
07:45and all is not lost yeah there's always new opportunities around the corner and with that
07:53i also feel that change was a big steam a big part that played into the story you had both
08:02characters
08:03very much at the start of the film set in their ways with you know max being somewhat of a
08:10pompous
08:11you know show-off and nora being this kind of very gritty hard-working woman two completely different
08:20backgrounds but over time both characters were able to shed their preconceived ideas about one another
08:29you know we saw that character arc with both characters kind of losing their or letting go
08:36of their inhibitions and you know taking a risk and jumping into a new relationship
08:42now before we get on to the performances i did want to talk about the scene in which nora and
08:52max
08:53first got it together at her apartment max was drunk well they both were but max was very drunk and
09:02he
09:03ended up passing out on nora's bed only to be later awoken by nora giving him oral sex at first
09:13quite rightly
09:15max was you know unsure what was going on i mean he was still drunk he had just been abruptly
09:22awoken
09:22and yeah he was trying to piece everything together he eventually did and the two went on to have sex
09:31this would kick start their relationship together and you know while the whole thing was kind of
09:39romanticized i can't help but state the obvious which was that nora had forced herself onto max without
09:48his consent you know i'm not going to get into a big discussion about consent and sexual harassment and
09:54all that kind of stuff but i i just say that when i saw all of this play out in
10:01front of me
10:02you know i couldn't help but think what if the roles had been reversed yeah you know i have to
10:10point this
10:10out what if a drunk woman had been awoken by a man that she barely knew who was performing you
10:19know
10:19oral sex on her i think most people would immediately think you know assault and i think that's a key
10:26thing to remember here that yes max knew nora nora knew max but they had only known each other for
10:34i don't know a few hours they were basically strangers you know ultimately they you know had
10:41sex they got it together they started a relationship so you know i guess it didn't really make a major
10:50difference to the story but i just found it very interesting how the whole scene was presented you
10:58you know i understand what the filmmakers were attempting here by giving the nora character
11:04some agency and subverting the gender norms but you know in reality what she did was messed up
11:14especially given that there was alcohol involved yeah i guess i just bring this up because you know
11:21we are living in a time post the me too movement where such things you know all the harassment of
11:29women is being called out and rightfully so of course but it works both ways and i just found it
11:38interesting how hollywood movie from the 90s can just kind of gloss over basically you know sexual
11:46assault that's basically what it was i mean what if max had not consented to then having sex with her
11:53what if would have been pretty awkward moment right so yeah i guess just from watching the film
12:01and having the mindset you know of someone living in the 21st century
12:05some uh yeah it was a crazy scene to be honest with you it was um yeah kind of dark
12:12separately to all of
12:14this i also noticed how the filmmakers leaned in to the jewish stereotypes with max's family being
12:23very rich now this of course played into the storyline with max being reluctant to show off his new
12:33girlfriend nora to his friends and family because he feared their judgment i mean she was the complete
12:40opposite of what max's family would expect so i mean what we're talking about here is social prejudice
12:48and once that was established that definitely raised some tensions within the narrative you know
12:57it wasn't like max's family were horrible to nora no they were very friendly but i think it was quite
13:04obvious that she was an outsider and you know she was never going to be part of the family
13:12and so with that and with the kind of underhanded snidey remarks it was that that triggered max into
13:22realizing that yes nora was the right woman for him and yes he was going to commit to her
13:29when it comes to the performances i thought susan's random was fantastic as nora bringing this raw
13:38vulnerability to her character nora was a woman who was happy to speak her mind you know there were
13:47no airs and graces with her she was kind of unfiltered in that sense and even though i think on
13:55the
13:55outside it may have seemed that she had this rough exterior watching the film i think it was clear that
14:05nora deep down had a good heart she was very much a caring person but unfortunately due to the loss
14:16of
14:16her son nora just kind of lost her way somehow now i've been aware of susan sarandon for many years
14:25i understand that she's you know a big time actress who's celebrated in hollywood but to be
14:33honest up until watching white palace i'd never really appreciated her ability and skills as an
14:42actress i guess in some ways i just never really paid attention to sarandon's career i think i may have
14:49seen thelma and louise at one point but um yeah i never really kind of rated her but after you
14:55know
14:55seeing her in white palace oh yeah she's very talented i see why she's so celebrated now in
15:02hollywood but you know it wasn't just her performance i actually thought that her on-screen chemistry with
15:08her co-star james spader was very strong and very believable like i've said many times if you have a
15:17movie that's basically centered around two people a love story then hey it's absolutely imperative that
15:24you get the casting right and making sure that those actors have chemistry and they did so yeah
15:30great casting for sure as for james spader he delivered a very understated performance as a tortured
15:39man who was trying to cope with this depression and grief through the loss of his wife unlike his
15:47co-star susan sarandon who had moments of kind of anger and frustration spader's character max baron
15:57was a lot more subtle in his uh his emotions and a lot more reserved and you know it was
16:05the
16:06subtleties that actually showed the transformation from the beginning when max was pretty much you
16:13know this quintessential 80s yuppie to yeah becoming a lot more open-minded and you know just a man who's
16:21trying to deal with grief spader was very good and you know he also like his co-star brought this
16:30and vulnerability to his character which you know kind of added some sentimental value to the narrative
16:38as for the supporting cast i thought everyone was okay i mean yeah there wasn't really much of a
16:48platform for anyone else to really show off their skills this is very much a very focused story on both
16:56max and nora so yeah i mean we saw jason alexandra at one point show up and you know there
17:03was no one
17:03bad but um it's not really worth talking about you know it really was all about spader and sarandon
17:10and so dislikes for white palace from 1990 my biggest dislike for the film would have to be
17:19the ending as for me it felt way too predictable so the setup to this was that both nora and
17:29max had a
17:30disagreement nora decided to leave for new york and yeah start a new life there max would then go on
17:40to
17:40find out and chased after her nora ended up working at some restaurant in downtown new york
17:49max showed up and uh yeah you know the two ended up getting it together while it wasn't necessarily
17:55that bad man i could have seen this coming a mile away as soon as nora left for new york
18:05immediately i was like oh you know how many more scenes until we see max chase after her which he
18:11did
18:12yeah i mean it wasn't necessarily bad it was just you know that he showed up they got together
18:19everything played out as expected i was hoping that something might happen i don't know maybe she would
18:27reject him or they wouldn't get it together but no they did and uh yeah as i said just very
18:35very predictable and another thing i really didn't like was also its execution as one of the last
18:43moments before the credits rolled was we saw max and nora embrace and they were both laying on this
18:51dinner table they were they were smooching the customers and all the staff were clapping hey well
18:58great this is great i mean it's like just yeah that that did take me out of the movie a
19:04little bit
19:05because for a movie to end like that in my eyes that's an ending to a romantic comedy not a
19:15romantic
19:16drama and you know while this isn't necessarily a very dark movie it's certainly not a comedy by any
19:23stretch of the imagination it just wasn't in sync with the rest of the movie now i understand that
19:29the filmmakers you know their hands were tied because white palace was based on a novel so they can't
19:36you know start you know changing this and changing that but still just the delivery of which we saw it
19:45happen and take place that could have been they they could have done something better i feel you know
19:52in an ideal world max would have gone after nora that makes sense but i feel that he would have
20:01most likely confronted her in private not in front of dozens of customers with something like that or
20:10maybe even with if nora rejected him that would feel a lot more realistic and in line with what we'd
20:18seen
20:19previously but this was something this ending was like i don't know something you'd see out of like
20:26when harry met sally or you know something like that it was just kind of cliche you know very
20:35romanticized where it didn't need to be and i guess you know my enjoyment was kind of diminished
20:42towards the end because everything played out as it you know i guess was too but man it was so
20:50generic there wasn't anything really there was no stakes for me you know it just didn't align
20:57and yeah i i really didn't like the ending as i said it was um so generic and so ratings
21:06for white
21:07palace from 1990 i'm gonna be rating this movie a solid
21:154.9 out of 10. the best way i could i guess summarize white palace was that it was a
21:24journey
21:24of self-discovery explored through the lens of a widower now while at times yes the story beats
21:33were somewhat predictable the fact that you had two high caliber actors one in james spader and the
21:42other in susan sarandon well their involvement it elevated the material and well that kind of
21:50separated it making it more than just your typical romantic love story this movie often gets cited as
21:58being underappreciated and underrated i would i would agree with that it is i think it's also fair
22:07to say that this movie isn't necessarily a standout i mean it doesn't necessarily have any
22:15mind-blowing originality but i still think it's very very relatable we've all gone through loss
22:24and as we get older we will continue to you know it is a part of life and i did
22:30appreciate the film
22:31at least giving some kind of positive outlook to those who may be suffering from that if you've seen
22:39white palace then please let me know your thoughts and memories in the comment section below for you
22:47guys out there who haven't seen this one yet the best way i could summarize would be if you're a
22:53fan
22:53james spader or if you're a fan of susan sarandon then absolutely you gotta check this out
23:00their performances are the best thing about this movie and well that's all from me today guys i do hope
23:08you've enjoyed this review of white palace from 1990 of course i'll be back next week with yet another
23:17cult movie review just want to say a big thank you to all my current subscribers i really do appreciate
23:23your support and for everyone else take care
23:26bye
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