Written by: Brett Haley, Marc Basch
Directed by: Brett Haley,
Starring: Sam Elliott, Laura Prepon, Krysten Ritter, Nick Offerman, Ali Wong
Rating: R
Plot
A former movie star relegated to voice over work reassesses his relationships, the past, and his mortality.
Verdict
This is a thoughtful rumination on legacy and flaws. You can't just fix relationships at the end of your life after years of neglect. You have to make the best of what you had and deal with the repercussions of the choices you made. Sam Elliot does a great job conveying a vulnerability you don't typically see. This is movie with a small focus, looking at the regrets of an old man.
Watch it.
Review
I love a movie that conveys a lot without exposition. Lee (Sam Elliot) is doing a voice over commercial and you can just tell he doesn't want to be there. He's asked to repeat the same line over and over. You're just waiting for him to snap. He doesn't. He needs the work, and this has become a routine.
This part is great for Elliot. Much how Birdman (read my review) seemed inspired by Micael Keaton, the screen writers were influenced by Elliot's life, though it's not biographical. Katherine Ross who plays Lee's ex-wife is married to Elliot in real life.
Lee is an over the hill actor whose best roles have long since past. He admits he only has one movie he's really proud of. He does whatever voice work he can find, hoping to get work on a movie. When he's not working, he's hanging out at his drug dealer's house, played by Nick Offerman. Offerman does a great job in this. He's become a solid character actor, and his work in this is all the more impressive when you compare it to The Founder (read my review).
Age gets everyone whether you're famous or not. Being a famous actor made life more difficult in regard to his relationships. Ostensibly Lee was always working, away on a shoot. Too much money and self inflated importance kept him busy and Lee never paid attention to his wife or daughter. Now he's ruminating on life and wants to try to repair relationships. He acknowledges his neglect, and it makes you wonder if he was ever home. You can tell he hasn't spent much time with his daughter. She rejects him outright, irritated that he's doing this just to make himself better since his mortality has become tangible.
As I watched this, I realized De Niro's The Comedian (read my review) treads a lot of the same ground, but does it so poorly. It lacks nuance and meaning. De Niro churns out terrible dialog and calls it comedy. Both feature an older man with a younger woman and at least one viral Youtube video, but The Hero is tender and authentic, especially compared to The Comedian. We know Lee is hurting, and he's constantly vulnerable. This captures emotion and life in a way that feels completely real. This doesn't tie everything up with a bow either. Lee long ago made his choices. While he wants to repair what he's broken, it isn't that easy and he doesn't get to bend the world to his will.
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