Overview
- The film focuses on a single evening in 1943 tied to the Broadway opening of Oklahoma!, using the night to explore Hart’s professional and personal crisis.
- Houston Chronicle praises Hawke’s performance as a career showcase under Richard Linklater’s restrained direction.
- UPI criticizes the production’s attempts to make the 5-foot-10 Hawke appear much shorter through oversized suits and sets, calling the effect distracting.
- Scenes center on Sardi’s and feature portrayals of figures from Hart’s circle, including Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein and author E. B. White.
- Linklater tells The Globe and Mail he chose the one-night frame to capture an artist being left behind, with Sony Pictures Classics handling the theatrical rollout.