Star (1993)

Let's be realistic.

A different way of telling a story

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

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

SPOILERS THROUGH:I'm not a major Danielle Steel fan but have seen maybe three or four of her movies. This was not my favorite. I did not read the book before hand but it wasn't hard to figure out relatively quickly, where this one was going. The movie itself was not that long and that was the biggest problem. This didn't feel like a movie, more a series of events. There was absolutely no story development whatsoever.This story, taking place over so many years, really needed to be at least another hour maybe more. It just didn't work here. There was a "This happens, then this happens" quality. Nothing was developed, to the point where I really wondered what I was still doing watching this when there really was almost no story there.What WAS there was a vivid and throughly captivating performance from Jennie Garth as the main character Chrystal. She elevated the movie but it seemed so little effort was put into making this absorbing or giving it any sense of realism whatsoever, that it was quite disappointing and whatever one thinks of Danielle Steel, the other movies I've seen of her work did NOT have that element.Craig Berko seemed miscast but that may not be him, the character development was weak too. The character of Elizabeth, the wife, was developed pretty well though.I liked the scene where Chrytal goes into the bar when she firsts get to San Francisco looking for work but then it seems like overnight she is a major success which was rather difficult to believe. And I REALLY didn't buy that chance meeting between Garth and Berko. But the whole movie is pretty much like this.I have a feeling the book is much better but the movie itself is probably no more then a 5. Five is ultimately my vote and one thing I will say is having Garth in the lead role was a big positive. This actually would have been better as a miniseries or even a television series. Decent but skippable and 5 out of 10.

OK, I read the book before I saw the movie......It is NOTHING like the book......Pretty much the names are the same, but that is where the similarities end.....The book takes place post World War II, not Pre-Vietnam.....The book also took place over many years, the movie only a span of about 3 or 4.....There are a lot of holes in the movie that the book doesn't leave....In the movie, Spencer gives Crystal a heart necklace, that doesn't happen in the book.....In the book Spencer gets drafted to Korea the day after the honeymoon, in the movie, its an earthquake in China that never happened....In the book, Spencer was a lawyer who left a high powered job in Washington when John Kennedy was murdered, and in the movie, it was when a daycare bill wasn't passed......And for crying out loud, Crystal never cut a record in the book!!!! Spencer and Elizabeth go to California to vacation, not The Hamptons.....And last but not least, Crystal gets her start in a nightclub named "Harry's"..Not "Larry's".....It was just a horrible waste of my time, but I do love Jennie Garth :-)which is what made it bearable!!!!

I'm not a fan of Jennie Garth's anyway and when I watched this movie it was with strain. Most of the scenes were silly like all of a sudden Ernie was murdered and they didn't investigate further. He didn't have any other enemies unless I've missed something. I guess it was a lame way of Spencer entering back into Crystal's life because like Elizabeth said, he isn't that type of lawyer. Last but not least the part at the end how he discovered that Zeb was his son. For all he knew Crystal could have gotten pregnant by someone else after he left-it could happen you know! A lot of time and money wasted on this one.

I gave this movie a seven because I normally don't watch drama movies let alone one based on a Danielle Steel novel. Second because Jenny Garth gave away a surprising good performance, excellent! Third because of her voice.The surpising supporting role by a Startrek acctress (which name I lost at the moment) helped some too.