The Last Run

I love this movie!  It's like Sideways crossed with Wedding Crashers and sprinkled with a dash of AWESOME. And it gets better every time you watch it, which is the sign of a truly great movie!!! My girlfriend and I rented it on vacation in Greece (where it came out earlier on DVD) and couldn't stop talking about it. And now its thankfully available in the states.

Fred Savage is Giamatti, only younger and with twice the issues. Its his best acting job yet because he's more that just a vulnerable little spud. He brings out the many sides of someone going through a (early) mid life crisis, making it not just a fun comedy. The themes reach deep!  It's a cautionary dating tale for the modern age, which is why, as I stated above, it just may be the ultimate break up movie.

One last thought... I hope they come out with a "The Last Run" calendar!!! You'll understand why after you've seen the movie...

This was one of the most confused films I have seen in a long time.

The Long Run starts looking and feeling like a romantic comedy - and for the first 15 minutes it is good - girl dumps boy, boy is convinced by friend to go on a "run" - a sexual quest to bed as many women as possible - but then from nowhere turns into a "ooh I'm so miserable" drama about sex addiction - it is horribly unbalanced piece of writing - and it is the script's fault. It is trying to be too much, and cannot pull off a very difficult and complicated arc of a storyline so instead opts for absurdity and the theatrical instead - and I don't mean that in a fun or funny way - there just are no laughs to be found here - or the luaghs are extremely cheap.

Strangely, all the performances are basically sound - but I didn't for one minute buy any of the premises put forward here,

So here's the problem: the script plots and turns seems to have develop as the story was written - it lacks a sense of clear direction - the redemption and resolution are disappointing, unrealistic, and frankly maudlin, and hugely depressing - but not even in a "well we all learnt something here" kind of way.

I could not really get to the heart of this - a moral tale? the broken heart? the 20s male? I felt no sympathy for either of the male leads - they are both moral vacuums - and seem unable to establish any meaning in their lives - and perhaps this is the point - the ennui of the sexual male cannot be met or matched so he has as many casual sexual relationships to fill the void - while I got it I found the style of the film highly bizarre and unsatisfactory - it looks, feels, and is shot like a light romantic comedy - but contains a lot of pretty nasty drama type situations. And in the middle a lot of absolutely gratuitous sex. Arguing that we need a film about sex addiciton needs as much as nudity as possible is justified - it just ain't right - and comes across as an attempt to titillate the viewer - strangely boring - the direction is sloppy.

Hugely disappointing and unsatisfactory - the arc of the main characters fall from from grace is implausible and unsatisfactory - and it is not tragic or fun, or even pathetic, it is bathos - an incongruous mix of high and low - and that is never a good thing.

Definitely not a date movie that's for sure.

A failure.

I was never a huge fan of Fred Savage. However, Savage really did a spectacular job in this film and I was impressed. The comedic timing of several moments in the movie were impeccable... whether it was the acting, directing, editing, or all of the above, it as overall great. As the movie progresses it becomes very dark and you feel for what the protagonist (antagonist) is going through. Savage makes you empathize for him. Relationships with all characters were organic and developed. The director Segal did an amazing job at showing the human as an onion showing all layers of who we are and at the same time adding an element of humor to lighten the darkness of what lies deep within all of us as humans. Humor in Honesty... Many props to Segal.

A Definite must see!!

"The last run" stands for having sex with as many women as you can get to get over the woman you broke up with! At least that is what is explained and advised by Jack Manning, Steven's (Fred Savage) best friend! When you hear this when said you think this will be something like American Pie! Well,it isn't! It's much more mature and recognizable! The first 40 minutes are great! Fred Savage has to get over his break up and somehow he can't handle it because he really loved her! It is very funny to see this,because most of the dialog and scenes seemed very familiar! And every man has gone through the same phase as he did! At least I did! But then something happens that was over the top! He becomes obsessed and addicted to sex! This is something I can't relate to! Of course it hurts when you break up with someone! But after a while you bounce back and you will find somebody else! And if you have found another you will get over the previous relationship! Fred Savage's character seemed very down to earth and grounded! It is a bit far fetched to say that a person like that to become an sex addict! Too bad they took this direction otherwise this movie would be one hell of a comedy!

Rebecca: This is so bad it's almost good.

Enid: This is so bad it's gone past good and back to bad again.

If the Mitchell Brothers were looking for a sure-fire tax loss they might have cranked out a movie like "The Last Run" (2004). They would have taken perverse amusement from plugging a has-been child-star into a grind-house level comedy. Fred Savage was always more narrator than actor and the movie's voice-over commentary probably seemed like a good fit.

Unfortunately the script is moronic even by Mitchell Brothers standards and there are no likely "Ivory Snow" mothers in the cast; the women in this movie look like aging escort service girls lured out of a local AA meeting or bowling alley. You know these marginal actresses are high mileage because the script calls for the male characters to incessantly discuss how young and beautiful they are.

It does have a pre-"Enchanted" (and then unknown) Amy Adams in the cast. You mostly know this because she gets top billing on the 2007 promotional poster and DVD package (a marketing thing); although she is only in about 10% of the footage, and even then as secondary player in the scenes. During her brief appearances she is responsible for the films only funny moments; not because of what she says but because of the way she says it. She has enough natural comedic talent to make something out of nothing even in a crash-and-burn turkey like "The Last Run". Unless you absolutely have to see everything Adams has appeared in, there is no reason to seek out this DVD.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.