Ashby

Geetings from Lithuania.

"Ashby" (2015) is a bit predictable yet enjoyable little flick. The story is not fresh, but there are some welcome surprises, although there aren't much of them (and don't want spoil them), they still are welcome.

Mickey Rourke III (i started to call him III because this movie features the 3rd Mickey Rourke's face (and hopefully the last) in his life). Although face is new, acting doesn't changed (just don't compare anything he is ever done with "The Wrestler", because there is a performance in "The Wrestler" and in "everything else"). I did like his acting in "Ashby", but he is more of a screen presence in here, although there are some good dramatic moments near the end. Other were pretty OK. Isn't Emma Roberts a bit to old to play school student?

Overall, "Ashby" is enjoyable coming of age story with some predictable and sweet romance and with some unlikely hero figure. Pacing is good in here, movie doesn't drag and while it adds nothing new to the table, i kinda was waiting for a bit straightforward criminal comedy, but what i saw was bit more serious and mature - and i liked that.

This one was interesting. It felt like a movie about a shy kid. But he isn't shy. He has no problems talking to people, just seem to not feel a need to, or something. Story wise he's gets an assignment in class to write about some old guy. Which is practically placed next door. Since the trailer shows a fair bit, I allow myself to reveal that the old guy, is a former assassin for CIA.

Back to the kid. He loves football. Has a rig in the backyard. Watches matches at school. Where he meets a girl that has a big part in the game.

I really like the relationship between the kid, and the assassin. Old guy tells what he thinks, and doesn't sugarcoat it. The movie is to a big degree about not lying to yourself, even if you don't like the truth.

His relationship with the girl Emma Roberts is playing is slightly weird, but works well.

The movie doesn't really leave you thinking for the next week, but it's a good movie. Not great, but good.

Ashby is a departure for Mickey Rourke, as he's been kind of slumming it in B movie junk for a few years. That changes here. Rourke's cowboy machismo and brooding vibe of danger is genius and takes on a whole new light when contrasted with the bright, idiosyncratic realm of the low key indie dramedy. It's a perfect concoction of ingredients, a melding of today's millennial teen angst with the battle scarred remnants of 1990's gritty pulp fare. Here Mickey plays Ashby Holt, an ex CIA assassin quietly residing in present day suburbia. He becomes aimlessly lost when he finds out he has terminal cancer, and is given three months to live. Next door, a high school kid (Nat Wolff) who's new in town tries to fit in with his peers, and make new friends while his incredibly insecure mother (Sarah Silverman♡) also tries to.. make new friends, I guess you could say. When he gets a class project to interview an 'old person', he spots Ashby, and reaches out. Ashby needs a driver, and the two strike an amiable enough relationship that's both tragically funny and a sly statement on the addled nature of youths today. Gradually Ashby becomes sort of a father figure to him, and the bond deepens. Nat also strikes up a romance with a peculiar girl played by Emma Roberts. She's one who usually plays the bitchy bimbo, but here wonderfully surprised me by giving the quirky outsider girl just the right amount of depth and empathy. You might just not recognize her, taking on the kind of oddball role her father Eric is famous for. There's scene stealing work from Kevin Dunn as well, playing a cantankerous football coach. The film briefly falls victim to 'quirky for the sake of quirky' indie tropes, and initially I was detached and wished it would bring it in more and smarten up. No one likes too much of that hipster bullshit lol. But it does, pulling back the curtains of glib comic inaccessibility to slow itself down and distill emotional, realistic work from its actors, the wonderful script a playground for them to explore. Rourke brings the best work he's done since The Wrestler, and is nothing short of sensational. When he's given the right material, he soars higher than most actors ever dream of reaching, and he finds the regret, sympathy, coldness and wounded spirit mentality of Ashby. He NEEDS more roles like this. Nat Wolff is a bit of a 'natterer' at first and got on my nerves a touch, but he grows on you, his naive sweetness a fascinating opposite to Rourke's weary burnout sadness. Fans of Rourke (he's my second favourite actor of all time) will find a gold mine in this one, and casual viewers should enjoy it's unassuming first half, and be moved by the down to earth second act that gives the characters the full circle arc they deserve. Well done.

Going into Ashby, I was hoping for a well directed,smaller, coming-of-age film. What I got was more like a bowl of trail mix. This film contains a hand full of positives; decent performances, heartfelt moments, and what I enjoyed most of all was the humor.

It was really light hearted and I really connected with Nat Wolff's character Ed. However, he is the only one I really connected with. Ashby (Mickey Rourke) was a fun character, that was not fully developed, and had more to offer. Then we had Eloise (Emma Roberts) the love interest, and June Wallis (Sarah Silverman), Ed's mom. These two characters for me felt bland and except for a couple of funny moments with Sarah Silverman, didn't do much for me.

Then we get into the main plot of the story, and although I was never lost, there was way too many sub plots and holes that were never really addressed. The pace of the film also felt stop and go, where in some instances it flowed well, then all of a sudden it braked to a stop and slowed down, then sped back up. The tone also changed from scene to scene and I couldn't figure out what the director was going for exactly.

Although I did not love this film, I didn't hate it either. I especially loved Nat Wolff's performance in the first and second acts, but then he lost me towards the end, when the movie shifted completely. Overall, I look at this film as a light-hearted, comedy, coming-of-age movie, that tries to be a lot of other things as well. I would recommend checking it out if you have spare time or if you want to hear Mickey Rourke's amazing voice.

One of those second-string Hollywood efforts of the "artiste' vein where the writer and director are one and the same.

Sometime these things take wings and fly (look at THE BIG SHORT where McKay also does double duty) and sometimes they end up in the dustbin of history as merely an interesting effort Not for want of trying. The supporting cast practically picks this film up and carries it on their backs. Rourke is as far from THE WRESTLER as the earth is from the moon, he looks and acts like his own grandfather. Roberts is given very little dialog but presents her character well. Silverman steals every scene she is in, with perfect timing and a twinkle.

But you have to choose, get a copy of St. Vincent.