American Dreamer

Peter Dinklage is Phil, a 50-something non-tenured professor of Economics at a college in Massachusetts (actually shot in British Colombia). As he tells a few of his students when they are in a bar for beers, a man just wants two things, to go home and a good sandwich.

Phil wants both, the sandwich he gets at the vending machine at work, it is sparse but add enough mustard and BBQ sauce from the small packets in the drawer and it fills the bill. Going home is a bit harder. He wants his own house with a strip of yard but can't really afford much.

That is until he sees the ad, an older woman has a very nice, expensive estate and will sell it for an affordable price with one condition - she is allowed to remain living there until she dies while Phil occupies the small adjoining apartment. Phil pools all his resources and takes the plunge.

I have long been a Shirley MacLaine fan, she is the same age as my older sister Sylvia, here she plays the older lady Astrid. Much of the fun in the movie is the interplay between her and Phil after he signs the papers and moves in.

My wife and I watched it streaming on Prime, a totally entertaining movie.