Flying Lessons

I rarely would give 1 out of 10 to any movie but this one barely makes a 1.

Deadly slow moving, overly sappy and sentimental with unlikable characters, with the possible exception of Hal Holbrook's character "Harry Pleasant". Sophie Conway (Maggie Grace of "taken" fame) plays a snotty little self-centered disrespectful brat. Her character's mother was equally as snotty and self centered who is dating a disgustingly poor excuse for a man. Sophie's main love interest (there were more than one) was a one-dimensional dull wimp.

In other words, it's difficult to like a movie when there's not one likable character in the bunch (other than Harry Pleasant).

The plot (if you can call it that) was so slow and plodding, just making it to the end without falling asleep was a challenge.

This was apparently a made-for-TV or a Direct-to-DVD production, not even worthy of its own hyper-link on Maggie Grace's Wikipedia filmography page. (Speaking of whom, Ms. Grace is a "one trick pony" and plays essentially the same character in any movie she is in. She did not disappoint this time around in that respect.)

No spoiler alert here, other than this movie was a real stinker.

My honey rented this movie and I had very low expectations. The movie started off with me expecting a story about a spoiled rich kid. It quickly transformed into a story about the struggles of young lost girl who returned home to a drunken mother. Still I thought, what a rich spoiled brat, but then she took a job caring for a retired sheriff with Alzheimer's. Her transformation and the story of a man trying to remember his past sucked you in!

Maggie Grace does a phenomenal job in her role. It's quite a true performance and shows her true abilities! Above and beyond Taken. Hal Holbrok at 85 years old put's in a great performance. His skill sucks you in and you really feel his plight!

The final message at the end, was trans-formative and compelling! I give this movie 9 out of 10 stars!

Bad in nearly every way. An utter waste of good actors. They do their best, but the script, the plot, the characterizations, and the dialogue are so appallingly bad I can't imagine who green-lighted this. It's a mystery concerning why the lead actress (lovely and charismatic) is promiscuous and a drug addict (unsavory in the extreme, with nothing to redeem it)- what went wrong with her relationship with her mother, former boyfriend, best friend, etc? The answers, such as they are, are slow in coming (the pacing is GLACIAL) and the woeful lack of chemistry between the lead and her lost love is a crime. And as an aside, the depiction of alzheimer's by Hal Holbrook, alternating between doddering and worldly wise, bears little resemblance to reality (the script's fault).

The overly simplistic plot points make little sense, i.e., NOTHING is explained in ways that are psychologically valid (very few explanations are given, and those that are aren't expanded or detailed enough to offer real insights, or make one care)- as if a none-to-bright ten year old wrote it. To make matters worse, little evolution is shown in the characters, a happy ending is just tacked on. If you can see anything of value in this mess, you're a better man than I Gunga Din (and I would secretly say you're a master or mistress of pure projection &/or wishful thinking). Shockingly bad. I'll add that it reminded me a bit of In Her Shoes, but THAT film does everything right, whereas for me, this one has no redeeming qualities whatsover.

Our beautiful and eternal Shannon, miss you... A good film, a little dragged and full of mysteries about the protagonist's hurts, and the past of the rest, but the outcome, despite the cliché, is worth it, the romance was a little weak, track beautiful and suffering sound...

I think this film will change the way we see how people deal with Alzeimer's Disease. Hal Holbrook plays his role in this film brilliantly! "Flying Lessons", deserves the very best of what it can get and receive. When I first saw it at it's premiere for it's release the next day. I just thought, Wow this really touches your heart in every way. But Hal, just lifts the film to it's edge, that no other actor I believe can do. He was made to act in "Flying Lessons". I hope this film makes it to the Oscars and get's what it deserves. Every actor in the film did an amazing job! "Flying Lessons", deserves to get released worldwide!

Sincerely, my very best regards David Goulard