The Last Word

The start of the movie is very touching. Baby, childhood, youth, and adult pictures of Shirley MacLaine are displayed over the opening credits, similar to a tribute to her at the Oscars after she's passed away (which we all hope will be many, many years in the future). Next, we are introduced to Shirley's character, an 81-year-old retired businesswoman who insists on having control over every aspect of her life. She trims her own hedges and improves dinner while her chef is cooking, but at the end of the day, she's enormously unhappy. She attempts suicide, but when she is revived, she has a sudden worry: she hasn't planned out her obituary yet! Amanda Seyfried is the writer hired by Shirley to write her obituary before her death. Normally, a young female journalist character in a movie is written out to be utterly unlikable and ruins whatever scene she's in. I feared the same during The Last Word, however, as the movie progressed, she didn't wind up nearly as unlikable as I'd thought. And, given the choice of other actresses who could have been cast in the role (Emma Stone, Anna Kendrick, etc), I was very happy with Amanda's rendition of the character. If you're a Shirley MacLaine movie, this is a must-see, especially since she's still alive. I can imagine watching this movie after she's passed away would be very sad. Instead, it's inspiring. Shirley is at first motivated to change her life because she wants a better obituary, but along the way, she starts enjoying life in its own right, and it's beautiful. The Last Word has the freedom of a "bucket list" type of movie, but with the motivation of enjoying life, not fearing death.

SUCH a wonderful movie, it's pretty inspiring and you're definitely going to cry (some tears will be happy). Couldn't picture 3 more perfect people to represent the leading ladies. It's hard to explain to other people why they should watch a movie and feel the things that you feel while watching it. But I kind of think that's a lesson from this movie. Feel however you want, do what you want, but "make it matter".

An elderly business woman hires a young newspaper woman to write her obituary on her terms. Her forthright personality has left her with few friends in life and poor family relations, she is forced to change her ways belatedly to try and leave a better legacy. Firstly, it does have to be admitted that this film is extremely predictable and it's not very difficult more or less working out the plot-line from the word go. As far as the story goes, there aren't any surprises to be found here it has to be said. But, despite this over-familiarity, the film still works and that is a testament to the acting, primarily from Shirley MacLaine who puts in a strong, spiky performance which I would not be at all surprised if it garnered an Oscar nomination next year. She is loads of fun to watch and is supported well by Amanda Seyfried as the young journalist and AnneJewel Lee Dixon as the little kid she takes a shine to. It's essentially a comedy-drama and mixes the dramatics with the humour pretty well. It also has to be said that it isn't so common to have a movie focus on the latter years of the elderly, which it has to be commended for doing. So, there is that more unusual angle interwoven into the otherwise highly standard plot structure. Essentially, over familiarity aside, this is a very entertaining movie which has a great Shirley MacLaine performance topping it off.

I should honestly be impressed that The Last Word gets away with as much as it does. It starts as one of those stereotypical light-weight puff pieces. The kind that gears itself toward the fussy, all-knowing, film festival crowd, then hits them over the head with the same mindlessness they claim to avoid by not watching mainstream films. The irony of course is they're never made aware that they're watching strategically released pabulum because they're "too smart and refined" (and white) to subject themselves to the latest common blockbuster. The Last Word is basically the cinematic equivalent of "The Emperor's New Clothes," for old people. The Last Word stars aged Hollywood icon Shirley MacLaine who basically takes the hindsight throne that was previously sat on by Meryl Streep in Ricki and the Flash (2015) and Al Pacino in Danny Collins (2015). She plays, of course a mortality aware loner who decides she wants to change her life with the help of a permanently brought-aback obituary writer (Seyfried) and later on, a sassy little black girl (Lee Dixon) whose tokenism would be offensive if it wasn't so carelessly stilted. Within the course of a month, Harriet Lalor (MacLaine) decides to reconstruct her legacy in the following order of importance: touch someone's life unexpectedly, find that certain something extra, be respected by her community and be beloved by friends and family. What immediately elevates Last Word from other pedestrian feel-good movies like this, is the inclusion of Shirley MacLaine. With over fifty years of experience playing acid-dipped battle-axes, MacLaine easily transcends the film's paltry story and annoyingly analog aesthetics. She does so well playing the quintessential shrew that every other one-note character fades into the background like a white wall against a bright tapestry. Of course, if sassy repartee alone was enough to elevate a bomb I'd be working for a publication by now. Literally everything else in this film suffers from clumsily sets up reveals and embarrassingly artificial sentiment. We see it all coming yet no effort is made to keep the script itself engaging or the least bit deserving of such an off-the-wall character. Why is Lalor hated by her family, why was she ejected by the advertising agency she started, why does literally everyone she meets want to kill her? The answers to all these questions will likely give OCD sufferers reason to get off their meds while giving babyboomers license to continue being s***ty people. What saves The Last Word from ultimately being beyond redemption is the very clear inference that the movie is a fantasy. It's a very treacly fantasy and one that would needle audiences outside its demographic into a permanent eye-twitch. Yet for those who just can't fathom why young whippersnappers like me can't just point to a place on a map and go, The Last Word is just what the doctor ordered. Consider it the last movie you'll see before euthanasia.

Wealthy woman, a former business titan living a very precise and orderly--and lonely--existence in her nearly-empty manor, wants the final say on her future obituary. Having kept her local paper alive for many years with her advertising dollars, she self-assigns the obituary reporter with the task of putting an optimistic spin on her life. What begins as a very thin character study of a straight-talking yet annoying harridan slowly blossoms into the much more rewarding story of a pushy old lady who manages to transform her bitter existence with friendship. Granted, friendship doesn't come easily to this control-freak, but what transpires on her journey to personal redemption is surprising and rewarding. The sassy dialogue in Stuart Ross Fink's screenplay doesn't ring true (and some of the actors cast in the smaller roles haven't a hope in hell of making it sound natural), but leads Shirley MacLaine and Amanda Seyfried develop a pleasing scratchy-and-smooth rapport (they also co-executive produced). MacLaine has yet another turn at playing a stubborn, impossible woman (she's making it a habit). While her Harriet here isn't necessarily a plausible creation, she's certainly a colorful bouquet of quirks, tied up with a cackle and a smart retort. ** from ****

. . . giving, but let's look Charles Dickens' Gift Nag in its mouthful of rotten teeth through its latest permutation, THE LAST WORD. Shirley MacLaine is cast here in the Ebenezer Scrooge role, and manages to turn all gooey, saccharin, and philanthropic without seeing ANY ghosts. (This Myth of Fat Cat One Per Center Greedheads with hearts of gold has given us our current Vicelord--a man after Dickens' own heart in terms of dumping Baby Moms and latching onto the newer models--Red Commie KGB Chief Vlad "The Mad Russian" Putin's Puppet Rump.) Realists and film fans will remember that throughout IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, evil slumlord Old Man Potter NEVER turns over a new leaf to give even one sucker a break. That's how Real Life works; NOT along the lines of these feel-good Cinderella fantasies (that is, upward mobility for the Poor, thanks to Rich People) featuring Scrooge or Ms. MacLaine's "Harriet Lawler." In other words, Oligarch Putin will NOT let Oligarch Rump continue ObamaCare, Medicaid, Planned Parenthood, Social Security, or Medicare, and Satan will NOT rip up the pacts they've signed, no matter how many feet they have in their graves.

Stuart Ross Fink appears to be making his screen writing debut with this very successful film THE LAST WORD. Mark Pellington directs a well-selected cast to support this showcase for the many talents of 83-year-old Shirley MacLaine. Not only is the film a fine story well told: it also takes on the topic f ageism and the manner in which the elderly are viewed in our youth oriented society. Harriet (Shirley MacLaine) is a highly successful, retired businesswoman who wants to control everything around her until the bitter end. To make sure her life story is told her way, she pays off her local newspaper (one of her many recipients of her wealth) to have her obituary written in advance under her watchful eye. But Anne (Amanda Seyfried), the young journalist assigned to the task, refuses to follow the script and instead insists on finding out the true facts about Harriett's life, resulting in a life-altering friendship. We meet Harriet's estranged husband Edward (Philip Baker Hall), her equally estranged daughter Elizabeth (Anne Heche), a 'mind-of-her-own' foster child Brenda (AnnJewel Lee Dixon) whom Harriet takes under her wing and learns as much from the child as she attempts to influence her, and her final 'boss' – radio disc jockey Robin Sands (Thomas Sadowski) - who places Harriet in the early morning radio slot as a disc jockey par excellence. From each encounter Anne arranges for Harriet (discovering that no one has anything positive to say about Harriet's self absorbed life history) we watch Harriet come to life as she has never lived it. MacLaine offers a bravura performance deserving of awards. The entire cast is excellent. This is a very fine film in this time of prejudice against ageism.

While The Last Word is certainly a touching movie, one which has MacLaine exhibit a strong performance, showing she still, and always will, have it, she overpowers her fellow actors. Which for little Lee Dixon is fine, you can see she is learning from going toe to toe. However, with Seyfried, you expect better. Now, one has to admit, the way Anne is written doesn't help things. But considering a little kid, who comes off stereotypical, somehow was able to push through very said about her background, you'd think Seyfried could as well. But, instead, she just looks bewildered and as if, like with most of her films, she has no reason to take responsibility to do the heavy lifting, in terms of giving the movie some kind of oomph. For, after all, there is always someone more experienced, someone funnier, and someone who can better create the chemistry between characters, who can do that for her. Hence the mixed label since while MacLaine is wonderful and Lee Dixon a possible star in the making, Seyfried damn near uses them both as crutches.

This review of The Last Word is spoiler free ** (2/5) AS WITH EVERY other film were an octogenarian is the lead, The Last Word opens with a set of photos and a kick-back retro song to show the life that they once had. Here the octogenarian is Hollywood legend Shirley MacLaine who at 83 years old has had one stunning career, from Billy Wilder's The Apartment to James L. Brooks' Tears of Endearment she's been in it all. And every time she's given stunning performances, she's no stranger to the spotlight. In her latest starrer The Last Word she plays Harriet Lauler, a retired businesswoman who likes to control everything and everyone, in turn leading her to be one of the most hated people. We open with her alone in her lavish manor, she's sad, almost tear-filled and for a while the sympathetic feeling this leaves is effective. She decides that she wants her obituary written, she employs young journalist Anne (Seyfried) to write it for her. Who learns the truth about Harriet's life, asking people what she's like as a person, it's much the same answer; she's mean, controlling, angry and hated, thus ending the sympathy we feel for in the opening. Anne decides to tell Harriet the truth, and she makes an attempt to change her life. MacLaine is the polishing appearance, giving an honest and brave performance she makes you feel for her, she's a loving grandmother type figure to her young high-spirited intern Brenda (Lee Dixon) and she's a good friend to Anne, as the lead it takes a while to warm up to her. By the time she warms up to her sympathetic measures – it goes away. To be fair, you can't blame director Mark Pellington who has had many big screen hits since his 1997 debut Going All The Way, it's the material that's to blame, it's predictable, clichéd and misguided – it doesn't work as a comedy. There are elements of comedy that spark there are a couple of gags more notably expressed from Brenda, this little girl brings heart to the film, she's energetic and has a lovable attitude, using her extensive f-bombs to change Harriet's ways of life. The third act brings the most life to MacLaine's shining star power, when she's on her last words she shows strength of being a good person, something that the previous hour muddled up. The Last Word is an un-funny, predictable, clichéd, misguided and a sort of trashy excuse for a redemption story that doesn't deserve the polished star power of a long-lived Hollywood legend. VERDICT: Although MacLaine fiercely gives her all, this is a misguidedly dim comedy-drama with fiery good intentions that push it through its ideas, but not enough heart to complete them.

"The Last Word" (2017 release; 108 min.) brings the story of an elderly woman, Harriett. As the movie opens, we get a montage of pictures from Harriet's baby days all the way to today as the opening credits roll by. We then get to know Harriett, as she is at home, bored and unsure what to do with herself. Her interactions with staff and the hairdresser are anything but nice. Then one day she see an obituary in the newspaper, and panic-stricken, she wonders how she'll be remembered. She takes matters in her own hands and engages Anne, the newspaper writer responsible for these obituaries, sending her off to meet a list of "friends and family" that Harriett gives her. Turns out that nobody on that list has anything nice to day about Harriett... At this point we're 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out. Couple of comments: this movie is directed by Mark Pellington, best known for his work in the music industry (he directed the "U2 3D" movie, among others). Here he seemingly goes in a completely different direction, how a controlling, not-so-nice older, rich woman deals with how people may remember her after her death. If it sounds a bit macabre, well it is. But worse, unfortunately for the viewer, the movie's plot is so utterly predictable, that there are very few surprises, if at all. "She puts the bitch in obituary!", complains Anne to her boss at the Bristol Gazette. But very thankfully, at least from my perspective, the movie does find some redemption because, as it turns out, Pellington hasn't abandoned his music roots entirely, and in fact a significant part of the movie relates to a (fictitious) radio station called KOXA, "independent music for independent minds". Hence we get treated to a TON of fabulous music (The Regrettes, Witch, the Kinks, Salty Dog, and many, many more). The movie's other winning formula is of course the two lead performers, Shirley MacLaine (as Harriett, MacLaine is now a crisp 82 yrs. young), and Amanda Seyfried (as Anne), and both also executive-produced the film. Anne Heche has a small role as Harriett's daughter. Bottom line: this is an okay and entertaining movie, in the laziest kind of way, but the utter predictability undermines its strength. "The Last Word" premiered to positive press (mostly for MacLaine's spunky performance) at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and it opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this past weekend. The Tuesday evening screening where I saw this at was attended nicely for a weeknight. The (mostly older) audience absolutely LOVED it, laughing and hollering on many occasions. If you are in the mood for an okay funny if mostly predictable movie starring the iconic Shirley MacLaine in a role she clearly relishes, you might want to give to a try, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.