Not a great 'comeback' for Pacino. What's he doing in this role? His song and singing abilities are beyond pathetic. When he started singing in the hotel and the camera zoomed in on Ms. Greymouse face I started to laugh. It's just too stupid.
Christopher Plummer's monologue about the water was great too. "So, you have leukemia? Well, let me tell you. Danny sends me free water all over the world, caus I'm a drunk"
Agreed. I thought it was abysmal.
shareAgreed. Pacino was badly miscast. Bobby Cannevalle was the only actor worth watching.
all work and no play make jack a dull boy.
Yeah, terrible film and Pacino badly miscast. Pacino has been playing the character from "Scent of a Woman" in every film he's done since then. He's not even acting any more. He just shows up, reads his lines and collects a pay check. Both he and DeNiro should just go away.
"Being human in a world full of vampires is about as safe as barebacking a five dollar whore."
It certainly settles into being a rather sappy, cutesy, by-the-numbers melodrama about an old goat looking for redemption and finding it in family values and stuff. It's testament to the acting chops of Pacino & Cannavale that the film is watchable at all. Tediously lightweight stuff.
"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan
"The project was originally set up at Warner Bros and set to star Steve Carell before going into turnaround in 2011." -- IMDb trivia
This explains everything. If you have seen "Walk Tall: The Dewey Cox Story" and "Dan In Real Life," you have seen this movie. If you love Al Pacino, it's not a complete waste of time. He reprises some of his big-hearted Lt. Col. Frank Slade.
This film had a promising start and interesting premise with the discovery of the letter, but soon devolved into little more than relatively cheap melodrama. It was also a bummer watching Pacino so obviously read some of his lines. The best thing about it was the placement of songs by Lennon, but they were largely wasted -- an opportunity for something far more moving if connected to better writing. It appears that Pacino has joined DeNiro on the gravy train at this point in his film career.
Life is a state of mind.
" It appears that Pacino has joined DeNiro on the gravy train at this point in his film career."
No and I can't stand when people randomly put them together as if they can't discuss one without the other.
It's not random. These were my two film heroes during the early 70's while attending college. Both remained dominant male leads during much of the next two decades. I mostly gave up on DeNiro around the time of the Analyze This and Focker trash (his work mostly went south after Heat), but Al's work remained consistently strong (e.g. Donnie Brasco and Insomnia, post-Heat). But this turkey surprised and disappointed -- Pacino only went through the motions.
Life is a state of mind.
Well, he was brilliant in "Phil Spector" and "You Don't Know Jack" (especially great in that one), and those came out in 2013 and 2010, respectively. I think he still got it.
Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life!
Then you haven't seen enough of Pacino's films if you really believe that.
He was great in:
Manglehorn
Phil Spectre
You Don't Know Jack