Greetings again from the darkness. Thanks to (or maybe because of) Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Liam Neeson, we are rarely without a senior citizen action film. However, it's a bit surprising for most of us to see Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss (THE GOODBYE GIRL, 1977) load up his gun and take to the streets for revenge. Writer-director Adam Lipsius scored a double Oscar coup by also casting Mira Sorvino (MIGHTY APHRODITE, 1995) as Dreyfuss' detective-daughter.
"Based on actual events", Mr. Lipsius bookends the film with the elderly Ben Myers (Dreyfuss) riding in the back of a limousine. He's barely coherent, but in the opening we can make out, "If I wake up, I'll choose different." We then flashback 12 hours to re-live what is likely Ben Myers' worst day ever. He's been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and though he's a former mobster, he says he went "legit" 12 years ago, and runs a local bar with his loyal-to-a-fault sidekick Tommy (the always interesting Pruitt Taylor Vince). Ben's estranged daughter (Sorvino) hits him up for money she says is for the daughter and grandkids that Ben has never acknowledged. Next thing we know, Ben's house has been robbed of all his cash (a quite substantial amount) and trashed by 3 men who take advantage of Ben's beloved dementia-stricken wife Nan (Megan McFarland).
This kicks off Ben's mission of revenge. Gun by Glock, body by Devito. His daughter is concerned he's taking this on by himself, and there is the added complication of her working for a politician that Ben once helped out of what would have been a career-ending jam. In fact, there are so many sub-plots, sub-sub-plots and characters who come and go, that much of this makes little sense. It works best when focusing on an aging (former) mobster trying to even the score, and gets a bit shaky when it reverts to dysfunctional family stuff. I believe there are five crying scenes, which is entirely too many for any movie not named SOPHIE'S CHOICE.
For those of us who recall Dreyfuss from his early TV days, a brief appearance in THE GRADUATE (1967), and of course in AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973) and JAWS (1975), there is some enjoyment to be had in watching 'Mr. Holland' take a violent approach to revenge ... though he's certainly no AARP reincarnation of John Wick. Overall, it's a pretty generic take on geriatric anger, with bonus points for a spot on description of what it feels like when one's spouse succumbs to dementia.
Arrives August 13, 2021 in select theaters, On Demand, and on Digital.
