The Old Man, Lou, and Pieces of Her -- The Same Movie, and a Bad One (SPOILERS for ALL)

Movie stars and TV stars -- in slightly different ways(movie people are more elite, TV people are more relateable) eventually become the FIRST reason to watch a movie or new series. That's why studios and streamers hire them.

And that's the first reason I took a look at three recent "streamer" productions -- two of which were one-season series(with maybe more to come) one of which was a stand alone movie of less than two hours.

I watched "Lou"(the stand alone movie) mainly because Allison Janney was the lead.

I watched "The Old Man" (a series) mainly because Jeff Bridges was in it -- and for the special reason that Bridges(one of my favorite stars) had to survive both cancer(now in remission) and COVID to make it. It is a star performance that is also an act of bravery. Moreover, the high caliber character star John Lithgow(also now old) was along for the ride as Bridges colleage-friend-nemesis.

I watched "Pieces of Her" at someone else's insistence, but quickly came to realize that the star selected to anchor this one was Toni Collette -- not really a movie star at Bridge's level, not really a household name like Allison Janney (who also, like Jeff Bridges, has an Oscar to her name) EVERY new TV show, streamer show, cable show or even garden variety network show has to have at least ONE name actor in it. Consequently, any actor who was ever in ANYTHING is castable forever after. Rainn Wilson, for instance, or Oliver Platt(who takes break acting on his Chicago TV series to act on the Chicago streaming series "The Bear" about a chef.)

And here's the thing. The Old Man, Pieces of Her, and Lou are all pretty much the same movie. With the same lead character. And pretty much the same premise:

Character: An old person who lives alone and gives others a wide berth. But this old loner turns out to have "a past" as a spy, and "a specialized set of certain skills" that allows their 60 or 70 something old self to beat much younger people in fights, sometimes to the death.

Premise: For various reasons, the "past comes back to haunt them." Their cover is blown -- in the one with Toni Collette, ala an old movie called "The History of Violence," their killing of a psycho criminal in a public restaurant saves lives, gets TV coverage -- and brings old enemies on their trails.

Complication: Our old loner-spy with a past -- has a family member and either a broken bond or a strong one with that family member. We're talking sons, daughters, grandkids.

It remains open as to whether the series "The Old Man" or "Pieces of Her" will continue to a second. It would seem dicey with the 70-something Jeff Bridges as he continues to deal with his bout with cancer. It would seem unlikely(unnecessary) with Toni Collette if only because her series wasn't much.

And while there is an opening for a sequel with "Lou" -- the first damn movie is so bad, predictable and lazy(less Janney's committed performance) that the idea of a sequel is downright offensive.

But lets look at what these three lookalike movie/series tell us about entertainment circa 2022:

ONE: The aging Baby Boomer population needs action heroes. This started with Liam Neeson in Taken back in 2009, but actually Neeson only seemed middle-aged in that one -- believable enough in his many fight scenes. Neeson has since made more and more "Taken" clones(none as good as the very good "Taken" was) but he is looking progressively older in them (just as Charles Bronson did, back in the day.) No matter, the older audience must be served. We were given The Flintstones when we were kids. Now we get old people beating the crap out of young people in mano-y-manos(Bridge's big fight was a believable close range grapple and strangle) and martial arts (the idea being that old people and tiny women can best bigger foes with the right quick moves.)

TWO: Name actors love Netflix and Hulu pay. Especially Netflix pay. "Lou" is a very bad movie but you can bet that Allison Janney saw the biggest payday of her life to make it. Big stars like The Rock and Ryan Reynolds (and Leo and J-Law for prestige) have done Netlfix movies, along with Sandra Bullock and Adam Sandler. None of the movies are particularly memorable but the pay has been astronomical. And if it works for Sandra Bullock, it will work for Allison Janney. I'll bet even the lesser known Toni Collette got BIG pay to have SOME kind of name for "Pieces of Her."

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