The Last Good Time

I got this movie on pay per view late one night and the only reason I continued watching it was that I was trapped at work with nothing to do. This movie sucked beyond belief, snails move faster than the plot of this drivel develops. The director and writers should be run out of Hollywood on a rail for creating such garbage. Only watch this movie if you're suffering from insomnia, it's a sure cure for that.

"The Last Good Time" tells of an elderly retired concert violinist (Mueller-Stahl) who lives on a meager pension alone in a modest flat and takes in a streetwise young woman (d'Abo) on the run from a scurrilous boyfriend. A bittersweet and poignant drama, "TLGT" shows the brief, tenuous, but beautiful coming together of two very opposite people with no more in common than their humanity. Well worth a look for the mature viewer.

Delicate but pointless little drama about an old widower (Stahl) who lives in a small apartment in Brooklyn (New York) and starts by an accident of fate a brief relationship with a troubled young woman (D'Abo). The central idea of the movie - a discussion about love, solitude, passion and desire - is developed with good style by Mr Balaban - he really knows the job - but the final result is shallow dialogues, unconvincing situations, all this marred by a complete predictable and not original ending.

I give this a 4 (four).

I had a bit of a mixed reaction to this film, but in the end, I feel that I have to recommend it, since it is so refreshing to see a film that is so leisurely paced. This is a well-made film, with a good story and solid performances, so it's the kind of movie where I would like to (but can't) overlook the major flaws. Unfortunately, the film isn't particularly memorable, and a film that is this slow does tend to make me watch the clock a little more often than usual. As you may have guessed, this is the kind of film for people who prefer to hear conversations instead of explosions in movies they watch. And while I wouldn't say that this is exceedingly effective as far as dialogue-driven films go, it does have two likable leads that make this a movie that is hard not to like.

I only tuned into this movie on cable half or 1/3 way through it, so normally I wouldn't venture a comment. However, there are only two, so I will. I'd really like to see the whole thing through.

This is a charming, life affirming movie. It operates well outside the stereotypes.

It's the seventy year old, Armin Mueller-Stahl, who carries the movie. We are all aware of older men, maybe even this old, who charm younger women. But when they are this old they always need to be either seriously rich, or seriously famous and accomplished in movie land, and for that matter, general popular culture. Mueller-Stahl is none of those things -- although he is well educated, thoughtful, and a talented violin player -- a minor artist. What he is most of all though is a really good listener -- and someone who at root is kind and loving -- even if he had tended to withdraw into a cynical and loner shell.

Of course the 20 something (Olivia D'Abo) has to be needy for there to be any chance of even a passing chemistry between them -- but she is. She gets beaten up by an abusive boyfriend who she knows is headed nowhere's ville with his lowlife criminal lifestyle. The Stahl - D'Abo relationship definitely is mostly father-daughter. But after his generosity, and concern, but lack of preachiness to her, she gives him what she knows will be a precious gift -- and it is.

A sweet movie.

(And I'm decades younger than Stahl.)