Max Rose

source: Max Rose

Although the movie is 79 minutes long,the plot is still kinda slow and there are many irrelevant scenes.Storyline and flashbacks that include Max Rose and his wife are nice but they are not brethtaking.All in all I would rate it 6.5/10 .

There are a lot of issues with this movie. It's really poorly directed for one. In truth, if Lewis wasn't in it, it would have never been made. He's the draw. Unfortunately he's also not a particularly strong dramatic actor. He's stiff and delivers his lines in a very amateurish monotone way. Then there's the ridiculously somber and boring musical track. It's a drag on the film and a bad choice. Further, the entire film is so slow, you'll be falling asleep soon after the credits. And compounding this is that there is nothing new in this movie. It's been done a hundred thousand times before.

What a beautiful movie.....wonderful approach of old age and its implications. Recommended.

Well scripted, well acted love story beautifully acted but exquisitely slow .

Jerry Lewis (1926-2017) plays an 87-year old jazz pianist whose wife of 65 years has died. He has learned that his Eva may not have been faithful all those years. Max Rose is directed by Daniel Noah and it's from 2013, but the wider audience got to see the movie last year. It hasn't gotten such fine reviews, but I just saw it on Netflix and liked it. It marks Jerry Lewis' return to the big screen after a very long time, and even longer with the top billing. This could be seen as the swan song of this legendary comedian, although he did appear in a couple of films after this. Here we see him playing it straight, even though he does wear a clown's nose for a while. And it's a lot of fun to see glimpses of the old Jerry Lewis, like at the jam session with the other old-timers. He mimes playing the instruments, which is a reminder of his old typewriter routine. But Jerry Lewis could be serious too, if he wanted to. The movie has a wonderful supporting cast, as well. Kerry Bishé is terrific as Annie Rose, the granddaughter. And Kevin Pollak is great as his son Christopher. Dean Stockwell is very good as Ben Tracey, the other man. Illeana Douglas plays the part of Jenny Flowers and she's superb. In the flashback sequences we see Claire Bloom as the late wife, and she's just marvelous. Then we have the group of fantastic old men- Rance Howard, Lee Weaver and Mort Sahl. What a joy to watch them! This is not your typical feel-good movie. If you want to see one, go see a Jerry Lewis movie of a different era. I'm so glad Max Rose got made when it still was possible. It ends with Mr. Lewis walking into the light. What a nice exit!

Max Rose (2013) *** (out of 4) Max Rose (Jerry Lewis) is a former jazz pianist who at the age of eight-one must deal with the death of his wife. Her death takes an even worse turn for Max who discovers that she might have had an affair on him years earlier when he was away from home. MAX ROSE is a film that barely got a theatrical release, which really is a shame. The film made the rounds for a while and people were screaming in hopes that Lewis would get one final Oscar-nomination but that wasn't to be. The film hardly got noticed by anyone and the critics who did see it pretty much ripped it apart. The reviews were quite bad and I must admit that I went into the film with low expectations and was pleasantly shocked at how entertaining it was. Yes, there are certainly flaws in the picture but it was meant to give Lewis a find curtain call and in my opinion it did so perfectly. The story itself is fairly simple and on a stylish level there's nothing extraordinary here. If you're expecting some sort of grade A picture then this isn't that. In fact, I guess one could argue that this is almost on a Lifetime type of level but what makes the film so entertaining is the fact that the cast is so excellent but more on that in a bit. I thought writer-director Daniel Noah did a nice job with the material as it really did a good job at looking at someone at the end of their life who is now having to make dramatic changes while also wondering if his entire life was a lie. I thought the story was good enough to keep you glued to what was going on and the film was actually pretty darn depressing at times. What made all of this possible was the wonderful cast and the performances that they brought. Kerry Bishe deserves a lot of credit as she plays the granddaughter and delivers a very good performance. You've got Kevin Pollack playing the son who battles with his father. You've get great performances from the likes of Fred Willard, Claire Bloom and Lee Weaver. Then there's Dean Stockwell who shows up late and really delivers a powerful performance. Finally, there's Jerry Lewis. I've always thought he was a highly underrated dramatic actor and that his greatest performance was THE KING OF COMEDY. He's excellent here and even though he doesn't have much dialogue he does a lot of physical acting with his eyes and just his body movements. I thought his performance was extremely good and it showed what he was capable of doing. As I said, the film is flawed and has its issues. It clocks in at just 83-minutes with the credits but what makes this so special is the fact that it gave Lewis a final lead role and one he did wonders with.

Memory is a funny thing, it ebbs and flows with one's mood and circumstances and so does perspective. In Max Rose, we meet a recent widower (played by Jerry Lewis), who finds reason to believe that his wife of 65 years, Eva (Claire Bloom) was in love with another man. He declares at her funeral that the marriage "was a lie." Max, who is already a cantankerous old man, becomes even more recalcitrant after his loss and engaging in a revisionist journey wherein he lets his own demons pollute his mind. Lewis, in his first feature role in more than 20 years, does well in presenting the depression and anger that Max suffers, and it is perhaps the most redeeming quality of the film because something else is still missing. Read more of my review here: https://indieethos.com/2016/09/23/max- rose/

Mort Sahl is the only reason to see this. It's obvious he writes his material - he did this in the 50's and every other decade, usually his stand-up routine. As for Jerry Lewis, I don't feel anything for him. At least he's not playing the silly role, but there isn't much here. Took 3 years to even distribute. The movie was considered so bad that the French wouldn't show it!

Until the last five minutes, I thought this movie was a very well done examination not of age, or loss, or regret, but of infidelity. Infidelity is a subject rarely seriously approached in film, and the idea of a film about dealing with that pain for the first time at the twilight of life made for very thought-provoking material. ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** At the end, though, this film makes a fatal error with the twist conclusion that Max Rose's wife never did actually cheat on him. This is not only illogical (Why did she never claim this? Her attitude toward him in flashback is almost taunting) but disqualifies the story as relative for those who have experienced the pain of betrayal, something much more common than a faithful marriage of 65-years. Really heavy material is thrown away at the last moment, with a brisk summary of "He never should have worried about it." There's a loose message in conclusion that love is all that really matters, but it does not seem Max Rose would have felt that way if there had been admission of a sexual indiscretion. Jerry Lewis is quite good, but again, his final confrontation with Dean Stockwell's character is mishandled with his inexplicably low-key attitude, especially considering Stockwell's open hostility at first. It just doesn't fit with all we've seen beforehand. At just over 80 minutes long, Max Brooks feels like a film that had another act in it, but a decision was made to cut that short and take the easy path home. Not a waste to watch, the cast alone makes it worth a look, but certainly a missed opportunity.