First the positives: I loved the fact that the film portrayed the elderly as lively and fully sexual (if frustrated) beings. The acting was decent and some of the characters were very entertaining. These are not Hollywood elderly either-which is a very refreshing change (and one of the things I prefer about British entertainment--Hollywood needs to get a clue); these characters look like regular people; "old people" which is nice--grey hair, wrinkles, saggy boobs and butts and all. Hollywood old and Hollywood "ugly" is just annoying and is so unrealistic that it is simply distracting and takes the audience out of the story. Honestly, this aspect really enhances what humor there is in this film. These actors are very obviously comfortable in their skins--as it is! and have fun with it. Unfortunately that's just about all I can say on the positive side, which is really too bad.
The movie missed a golden opportunity to really explore and humanize the elderly. The moments that were truly interesting and worth expanding were barely there and then ignored. An example is the sadness experienced by one of the lead characters when his (I think) granddaughter comes by for her weekly--all too brief visit. It's mentioned in passing to explain his long face, then never brought up again. In that case, why even have it in the film at all? These kinds of subjects have been successfully treated with humor in other films. Looking at the serious side of being old doesn't have to be maudlin or depressing, but it certainly would have given the movie a depth that it currently lacks.
I don't think the movie was scripted, but rather the actors seemed to mostly ad lib around a general set-up, then the clips were joined into something resembling a scene. Many of the scenes lacked any kind of bridge to tie them together, resulting in a slap dash amateurish effect. This would explain some of the continuity issues and why the pacing seemed off throughout the film and greatly lowered my rating.
Many of the jokes were just irrationally juvenile; and several of the characters simply acted like naughty neglected children. This kind of treatment does the elderly a great disservice. There was also way TOO much emphasis on the men wanting to get "laid"--as they acted more like pre-pubescent boys who had never touched a boob before instead of grown men who had been married and raised children to adulthood. The women were also shown as sexual beings, but far more realistically--the uneven treatment is rather baffling.
This film is not for anyone who would be offended by graphic and crude sex talk or language, though the visuals are pretty tame. Overall a sadly missed opportunity.
