OK, this came up on Bounce, broadcast TV, so it is not like I paid anything. Firstly, the actors were great. I love Danny Trejo. I was astonished to see how obese George Wendt has gotten. He is in a life-threatening situation, so I guess that is one way to make me care about a character, wondering if he will have a stroke on camera.
The script was a bit formulaic, but when the ex-con played by Trejo knew not to let a government employee into the house, I felt the need to write a review to defend the movie against all the negative reviews. Learn from Danny, never let a government employee into your house. (Yes, I do know they don't need a warrant to inspect a home business, but it's OK dramatic license.) I thought the interplay of a street-smart jail-house lawyer and a nice middle-class family was well done.
This movie was a little "corporate," in the somewhat unbelievable diversity of the cast, I don't want to watch a movie based on demographics, but on believable relationships. But it was not too far off the mark, and having seen friends go to assisted living homes, with a stint in a nursing home now and then, there was charm to the plot, and dialog, and characters.
I liked the sub-plot of the shy son liking the cute girl. He might have been type-cast, but he really came across like a nice shy kid, so I really liked that actor. He did his role very well.
This is not a sit-com humor, it is more subtle and gentle, so don't look for howling snarky knee-slappers, just a nice knowing chuckle, especially if you have hung around a retirement village at all.
Thanks to IMDb, I looked up the writers, Robbie Fox and David H. Steinberg. These guys are not slouches, they did pretty good job making a nice clean entertaining movie. The direction is pretty good too, like the kid's audition sequence inter-woven with a montage. Not Citizen Kane, but good solid stuff.
I also liked that the government guy was a pain, and officious, and a nice bureaucrat just doing horrible things since he felt he could. The banality of evil.
OK, the movie has 15 minutes left, including the commercials. I am glad I stuck it out, it's actually interesting to me to see what happens. What more can you ask of a free movie?
As a parting note, I clean up a joke told me by a pal that spent a little time in San Quentin: "I spent so many years pleasuring myself in the shower, now that I am out, I can only make love to my wife when it rains."
