Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Golden Hawk In a shot echoing/contrasting with the opening of 1971's The Last Picture Show, Texasville (shot 19 - and set 30 - years later) opens with a television antenna pointing up towards the sky - a sign of changing times which lays the foundation for what's about to follow.In a sense, the death of film/filmgoing as depicted in its much- lauded predecessor, comes to match a sense of loss experienced by the main characters in Texasville - the loss of an empire (Duane), of a son (Jacy), of his mind (Sonny). A more ethereal but equally engulfing sense of collective loss - which is to remain largely inscrutable to us - shapes character and diegesis all the way through. As a result, Texasville doesn't merely depict these people as they move into (and past) middle life - it strives to point out how this emptiness that afflicts them has fallen over them and cast a giant shadow over their lives.This change is in the basis of the radical aesthetic departure put forth in the film. Whereas the original film took place in a world of silence, dread and melancholy, Texasville perseveres in a state of faux exhilaration, as if the characters are afraid to be left alone with their thoughts and feelings. The sad, introspective country music plays on, but nobody listens to it anymore - that is, nobody other than Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms). More so than before, the past is best left forgotten - and Sonny's inability to let it go is precisely what costs him the drive to live his life, as well as the possibility to lead his own narrative.Promoted to a leading position, Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges) now molds the plot and supplies it with a subjective viewpoint, which results in a great many things left unseen and unsaid. These gaps are deliberate and feel deliberate, with numerous significant developments left off-screen - always in capacities where Duane feels completely at a loss (most notably his wife's relationship with Jacy), only reaching a degree of clarity at the end, once our lead has sorted out part of his problems - and positively dealt with his crippling midlife crisis.In plain contrast to the original film, Texasville has a very caustic and witty tone, the reason for which is twofold. For one thing, we're accompanying a set of characters (as mentioned, fronted by Duane himself) who no longer believe in themselves and whose past assuredness has been disfigured by a life of self-confessed failures - a need for empathy has devolved into a tragicomic existence, and Bogdanovich has framed it accordingly. The other reason for a shift relates to the evolving spirit of the times, which takes us back to the opening shot and the overriding theme in the film - whereas the existence of the characters in Picture Show mirrored the nature of the films they watched, the characters in Texasville echo the sitcom-like sensibilities of TV. Duane's family comes as the prime example of this trait, but just about every other character in the film seems willing to flirt with the seemingly vacant, raunchy, comedic sensibilities Bogdanovich knowingly imbues his film with.Unsurprisingly, only Sonny seems like he's orbiting around the narrative as though he belongs in a whole different film - perhaps somewhere in-between the landscapes of Picture Show and the wild shenanigans of Texasville. Bottoms' sensitive performance is flawless in terms of physicality and internal probing but he really knocks it out of the park in how he tackles the concept on which the entire aesthetic of the film - a comedy with an unspoken tragic undercurrent - is built. Bridges is entirely convincing throughout and never less than splendid in his ability to hint at the sorts of feelings his character is going through but unable to deal with (or even to understand). Cybill Shepherd is more convincing than in the original film, but the third real standout here is Annie Potts as Duane's wife Karla, who is an impeccable match for the material - uncovering a quiet dignity in her role, slipping in a variety of small, inward touches within the bigger/louder demands of her role in the picture.Bogdanovich does a wonderful job throughout, his camera lingering intuitively on his characters' wistful gazes (usually to punctuate the ending of a scene), carrying his vision through a sinuous, meandering story which - barring the very end where a key development brings all characters together - never truly coalesces into anything resembling dramatic momentum. One of the best things about the film is precisely how it eschews average plot progressions (which seems rather in keeping with a set of characters who run around without ever getting anywhere special) and challenges our expectations of what may be in store for these people. In a crucial and frankly satisfying development that comes to challenge our expectations behind the entire film, Jacy doesn't ever even seem to consider a romantic reunion with Duane - instead developing a growing affection for his dog, his family and finally his wife, much to his bewilderment.At the end of the day, while it may not be as breathtakingly well crafted as Picture Show, that's just not what this film was aiming for. In a sense, no film with this design could ever hope to achieve perfection in the sense that its predecessor damn nearly attained. Texasville has very different prospects in mind; it wants time and place to dictate form as well as content; it wants to bristle with ideas and all sorts of social, human, psychological insights; it wants to convey how the death of film came to affect a small town in Texas, and how television changed the landscape of narrative as we know it. What it strives for, it achieves with resounding success. Like Picture Show before it, Texasville is a masterpiece of filmmaking, only of a completely different - and far more inscrutable - variety.

Scarecrow-88 Jacy Farrow(Cybill Shepherd)returns to Texasville where she was the homecoming queen for the town's celebrated Cintennial. Automatically old feelings are bound to return, though middle age has shaped Duane Jackson(Jeff Bridges)into a man who buries most of his feelings, yet he isn't prone to conflict. This film rarely has any outbursts despite the adulteries both Duane and his wife Karla(Annie Potts)are having on the side. Their marriage is one of many things focused on in this character study which can bring a multitude of emotions thanks in part to a cast who forms complex performances to the forefront. Returning from the original are Ruth Popper(Cloris Leachman)still very much in love with Sonny(Timothy Bottoms)who is slowly losing his grip on reality seeing things from the past which aren't there to anyone but him. Ruth is under the employ of Duane whose oil business is drowning in debt. Lester(Randy Quaid)is a banker now, Genevieve(Eileen Brennan)is still around as a gal Duane and others can chit chat with. Duane has a son, Dickie(William McNamara)who frequently dates various rich older women.Doesn't necessarily follow a plot narrative as much as the film is character-driven. We enter their lives at the Cintennial and watch as they go through the little quirky dramas. It isn't your usual drama and goes through various episodic dramas with Duane mostly at the center. What makes the film so odd is the way Duane and Karla remain together without ringing each others' necks. They know that each other jumps in and out of bed with others yet still maintain their family. Even weirder is how Jacy comes right into their lives, possibly a threat towards the marriage, yet she becomes quite good pals with Karla. Nothing operates the way you expect..I like this. I don't believe life follows a narrative thread. We all have our episodic dramas. There isn't always an exact end until we're under the grave. While the cast is very good, Annie Potts is just splendid while Bottoms as the tragic, troubled Sonny gains great sympathy for his mental plight. I just love to watch Bridges, especially when he won't reveal everything, yet when he does speak it often just makes simple sense. If you like heightened melodramas where characters scream and yell(..or, better yet, are directly confrontational), this film isn't for you.

John Holden Imagine that someone wrote a 1-hour dialoque for each of 10-20 characters and had them recite each part separately; but then edited it all together. Sound like a bad play? Yup.This is really about wallowing in the self-pity of middle age. The characters talk at each other but rarely connect or even interact. It's all about mouthing cheap lines.Bridges and all of his kids and all of his grandkids are horrible. His wife (Annie Potts) is the only slightly bright spot in the movie (actress and character).All of the main characters are in the midst of a crisis. Bridges teenage son is banging some of the married women - wives of his dad's friends. One wants to marry him; another is pregnant; another (or one of these two buys him a Porsche. Part way through the son he elopes and marries his trashy girlfriend; then he files for divorce after fighting with her.I think that Bogdanovich wanted this to be an examination of the pain of living: birth, death, disappointment, craziness, losing wealth - all the big issues. Instead it's just a poorly storied and acted soap opera.Don't waste your time.

smatysia Some worthwhile performances here. The film does suffer from comparisons to "The Last Picture Show". That film was astonishing in its originality and has become iconic. "Texasville" neither aims so high, nor lands so hard. Nonetheless, the whole atmosphere of sadness calls to mind TLPS, as does the lack of a musical score, the only background being radios or whatever that the characters also hear. The adult characters, who were teen-agers in TLPS never seem to have grown up. At all. As Ebert said, I wonder what Sam the Lion would think of all these people. I seem to have missed all the sex going on in the '50's (OK wasn't born yet) and missed it again in the 80's. Maybe I'll catch that train SOMEDAY.Jeff Bridges put in a great performance here, just as he always does. He never seems to play a character you don't believe. This in films as disparate as this one, "The Fabulous Baker Boys", and, say, "The Big Lebowski". Cybill Shepherd was very good and very beautiful. It probably took some amount of courage for a former model/beauty queen to take this role, that explicitly compares her middle-aged looks to her youthful pulchritude. I thought she still looked great. (But then, I'm middle-aged) Cloris Leachman showed her dramatic talent to wonderful effect. But, saving the best for last, I thought Annie Potts basically stole the show. She was gorgeous, and she so totally nailed her character. Acting doesn't get much better than this.Anyone who liked TLPS (and that's almost everyone) should see this sequel. But don't carry into it unrealistic expectations.