Last Call

As a former resident of Upper Darby and a UDHS graduate, I was very disappointed in this movie. If this group of characters typify current residents with no jobs, incessant drinking, and childish games while living in a seemingly run-down neighborhood, I'm happy to be a former resident. The plot was woefully under-developed and the dialogue was at times hard to follow. Manning's character at one time said that they'd been working to revitalize the neighborhood for years but the visuals showed no evidence of that which found me rooting for Piven's character's casino project. Like others, I would have preferred to see the movie shot in Upper Darby with actual locals like Bradley Cooper and Tina Fey starring. Heck, how can you do a movie about Upper Darby without a single shot of the 69th Street shopping area???

An insipid, uninteresting, disappointing movie lacking in almost every department. The writing is absolutely useless, there is no development whatsoever for any of the characters. Love line (or what it really meant to be) is highly implausible, Piven and Manning have below zero chemistry together. Honestly, it's so bad, it's ridiculous. The weird condition, which was for some unimaginable reason assigned to the protagonist, kept to be reiterated in several scenes for no reason at all. Lots of drunk people talking rubbish, and that's it. No wonder the actors looked like they were bored to even be on set.

I give it four stars just because I like stories of saved neighborhoods, and "Last Call" could have been so much better had the makers put a little more effort in it. I say, re-watch "Two-Weeks Notice" instead, don't waste your time and money on this one.

Stereotypes are true but to be avoided because they do not offer fresh perspectives, rather they present fixed views that coddle our expectations. Using the familiar return story, this movie exploits every stereotype it in almost every degree.

We have the cranky father, the old band of friends, the various women (this is mostly a male tale told from the male angle); economic hardship, career and ambition disappointments and many passing shots of houses and streets that would not grace a glossy lifestyle magazine.

Along with those tired contextual clichés we have the representation of working class men as horny, hard-drinking and unlikely to reach any form of maturity. They have scant lives besides benders and laughing drunkenly in their endless pursuit of male bonding. Such fixed and narrow representations of other social groups usually cause anger but perhaps this cohort are phlegmatic about such things.

To use a phrase, It is what it is, and if this story with its good intentions and able cast of actors seems worth the time, then so be it. Don't look for much above the prosaic.

This movie takes me back to when I lived in Philly..........and reminds me why I left. Some of the scenes with Philly landmarks were cool. It was the only reason I watched about 5 minutes of the movie before changing the channel. Can't imagine who would spend money to see this at the theater.

A totally useless film. The actors are blameless, especially since they have to play despite the absence of a script. It's a real waste of time and a deep boredom.