The Last Shift

Astute observational indie about two guys who are stuck. Neither can admit that anyone is worse off, on a lower rung of America's economic ladder. They find themselves working together at a slow fast-food drive-through in a town that's been left behind. The elder of the two -- played with almost painful truthfulness by Richard Jenkins -- is a crumbling white guy who has been serving up low-nutrition burgers and fries for 38 years and thinks he's looking forward to his last shift. His trainee is a gifted young black man -- skilfully presented by Shane Paul McGhie as a charmer with a chip on his shoulder -- whose intelligence can't save him from the consequences of his resentment.

Written and directed with skill and sensitivity by documentarian Andrew Cohn, this is an understated state-of-the-nation piece that makes its points without ever resorting to polemic.

Richard Jenkins ... always an excellent choice if he's available. Such a range this guy has - and his performance here is matched by his .. well "successor". While he is on his way out, he will get replaced and has to teach the guy who comes after him how to do the job he did.

The fact that the guy is an ex con and way younger than our leading man ... well it has to lead to some conflicts. For better or worse those two have different world views. And whether you agree with one or the other ... it does fuel the story and the character development ... and adds tremendous drama to the whole thing. Some other great additions in the acting department round up a really interesting drama - slow moving, but good, with many themes that will connect to a certain target audience.

This story was written with a quill (or disposable Bic) not a sledge hammer. While it has the predictable white = bad, black = good thing happening, the story is actually new (to me, on film). Growing up, going through my first part-time jobs, I always ran into older people who unaccountably had the same responsibilities as I did. I didn't necessarily pity them, but I was curious about them. This film gives "that guy" some dimension, a life. I also like that the younger character can get in cross-ways with the law without being a thug. That's probably a lot more common than we know. It's not a story to change your life, but it is a thoughtful piece all the same.

Richard Jenkins was great, he nailed this role. This film won't get him an Oscar but based on his performance you should give it a watch. As far as the movie goes, it was nothing really over the top or spectacular. Just a simple film with a decent story and good acting. 6 stars.

SYNOPSIS: It's Stanley's (Richard Jenkins) last week at his fast food job and he's stuck training a young rebellious kid to take over his job.

REVIEW: This film strikes me as someone having an excess of money and so they paid big to one well-respected actor and paid big to have it play in theaters. I say this because although I didn't hate the time I spent watching the film, I just sat there and thought of how pointless the film was. There were a couple moments that the film was grasping at a point, but it fell flat. It felt like there was an arc to be made with both of the characters, but nothing came of it. I mean, how much of a change can you make within a week?

If you're looking for something to have in the background that you don't need to pay attention to while you do other things, this is the one. It's a background film. 5/10.