At Last

I saw At Last at the Three Rivers Film Festival this November and I loved it! The movie is a wonderful adult romantic comedy. Kelly Lynch has never been better and Martin Donovan is wonderful. Based on the true story of the director and his wife(who helped him write the screenplay)At Last takes place in New Orleans and is a wonderful testament to that great city. Finally, a movie that is a celebration of first love and the journey that life takes us on without being overwrought and cheesy. This movie is not yet in national release, but with word of mouth and festival buzz it should see a 2006 release. Please see it and ask your local theater to book it.

I saw "At Last" in Shreveport, Louisiana last week and enjoyed it very much. It was great to see New Orleans so beautifully filmed, and great to see a true life love story not overly done. The movie was sweet and gentle where it needed to be and just right everywhere else. It flowed along nicely like a trip down a lazy river with unique and interesting sites along the way. You can just feel that it was made with loving care. The casting was excellent--the teen and adult versions of Mark and Sara were spot on, and M.C. Gainey stole the show as Mark's brother, Earl. You can't help but think that this very talented ensemble must have had loads of fun making this film. I highly recommend "At Last" and can't wait to see it again when it, hopefully, returns next year in wide release. This is one film I will buy on DVD, not only as a keepsake of New Orleans but a wonderful, charming film to share with friends.

This movie just ran at the Asheville Film Festival this weekend. It was very well received by the audience, winning the Audience Choice Award for feature film. Excellent location footage of New Orleans before Katrina and while I'm not a lover of romance films, this one is quite good. The plot involves the reunion of former teenage friends who drifted apart after a summer together in Grosse Point, Michigan. Letters written to each other were never received, rather they were intercepted by the mother of the boy, who, as a forty-something businessman, receives by accident the unopened and undelivered letters. The cinematography is terrific and the story has some excellent comic moments.

OK. So I went to see this movie on Valentine's day with my girlfriend. We thought it would be a nice romantic movie. ehhh wrong. It is very poorly made. The script is cheesy and trite, it is very predictable. The lines are awkward, and made even worse by the fact that none of the actors are competent. The plot promotes the idea of leaving your spouse and family while planning to commit adultery....something that I don't think is something that needs to be promoted. In conclusion, this is a horrible film. Cheaply made, it is based on a bad idea and made by incompetent amateurs who did the wrong thing, and then decided to tell the world about their sins. To top it all off, there is an absolutely horrific song that plays during the closing credits. "At last it's you, at last it's me, at last it's we." cheese-tastic. At Last this movie is over...at last this review is over...and lastly, I would strongly discourage anyone from ever wasting two hours of their life on this film.

The early scenes developing the characters were a little choppy and did not flow smoothly. This did improve and the characters were very believable. I liked the cinematic technique of the scene of early character washing her face then being merged with the later character doing the same thing. This also happens at the very beginning of the movie and the very end. Also look for a mention of the writer/director (Tom Anton) in the middle of the movie. The fact that it is set in New Orleans prior to Katrina is poignant although the tight shots may have masked some of the damage. It shows the circuitous route that life and love often take. I would give it an 8 out of 10 hoping it will get some marketing along with word of mouth among movie-goers. It could be a sleeper like Sideways.