Well, I didn't like this film so much. It's probably because I'm not the target audience. My parents largely enjoyed it.
Lee Hayden (Sam Elliott) just received bad news. He has cancer, and not one of those types that can be easily cured. But he's receiving a lifetime achievement for his career in films and TV shows, mostly of the western varieties. His life is pretty much a vastness of emptiness. He does voice overs for lame products and is separated from his grown daughter, Lucy (Krysten Ritter). He gets high a lot. And his only friend is his drug dealer and former co-worker (Nick Offerman). Things start looking up when he meets a far younger woman, Charlotte (Laura Prepon) who also gets her drugs from Jeremy. She actually likes him and is the one who accompanies him to get his award. Lee doesn't feel that he deserves the award and presents it to a random person in the audience and the speech goes viral. For the first time in some time, he's getting quality offers for acting roles. He's even got a film offer but he needs to audition for it, something he hasn't done in years. That is probably his greatest scene, reminiscent to real life, a man reconciling with his long-lost daughter. And though he nearly makes Jeremy cry, he flubs the audition and is pissed off.
In the end, he manages to start to mend the fences with his daughter and gets the risky surgery so he can have some more time. He and Charlotte are somehow still together, despite her bashing old men as part of her comedy routine. He is just glad to be living.
Now, while Elliott is wonderful and it is a good role for him, I just can't get behind the romance between him and Charlotte. She's far too young for him. It grossed me out whenever they were together. I found that whole thing unbelievable and ridiculous. I suppose it did need to happen, Lee needed to find romance in his life again but I wish it could have been with someone closer to his own age.
It blended reality and Lee's fantasy and dream life well together and the cinematography was innovative, with plenty of close-ups. But this film had no impact on me and I do not want to ever see it again and it's a shame as Elliott was brilliant. Grade: B
No comments:
Post a Comment