I try hard not to read reviews before I go see a film, but I confess I took a sneak peak to Rotten Tomatoes before heading out to Pittsford Cinema in Rochester, New York to view “My Old Lady”. A trusted friend had told me it was good, but I wanted a professional’s opinion. A review suggested that the movie was claustrophobic in its setting. My response to that, is two-fold:1. Originally a play of which the screenplay was written by the playwright, ipso facto and 2. ‘The apartment’, aka lavish house, wasn’t the problem, it was the characters constant milling about within the space that was bothersome. I wanted to scream out as my mother use to, “Light somewhere!” as you would tell a bothersome fly, swatter in hand.
But hey, I’m in my glory this fall, two of my old crushes are back in the movies-Bill Murray (St. Vincent) and Kevin Kline (thought he was incredibly sexy in that big lug type of way “A Fish Called Wanda”) in this film.
Much like Marissa Tomei, Kristin Scott Thomas is another one of my favorite female actresses, her portrayal of the raunchy mother in Only God Forgives was the movie’s only redeeming feature. And I was rightfully envious of her love scenes with Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient. Here she’s a tad on the drab side, but that’s her character, not her. She’s gorgeous even with little makeup.
And speaking of cosmetics, while Kevin Kline has lost his upper lip, I wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating crackers. He’s mega talented and multi lingual. He’s comedic, he’s Shakespearean and he can sing.
Maggie Smith is really great and as I perused her IMDB photo gallery, I chose this photo to add, feeling sorry for the lady who always seem (as of the last decade or so) to be put in roles where she has no color, as if all old women must look absolutely gray in complexion to be believable.
This film is worthy, though not super. I didn’t buy the character’s reactions to his parents marital affairs, not in this day and age, especially if his dad was a cad to begin with, but hey ‘it’s only a movie’, or is it?:) No, it was a play first:)
