Capacité réduite

Weird feeling all through this one. The story just never hits and we keep wanting for things to move forward. Some funny moments though and a lot of love for baaeball which you can't complain about.

I saw this film last night and I really enjoyed it. It showcased some human elements that have been forgotten by Hollywood. Sense of family, memories and bonds that are easily dismissed in today's world. Wonderful performances by the whole cast, especially Alan Alda and Matthew Broderick. Two comedic legends, but what touched me was the compassion that both their characters showed for each other. It was a comedy but personally, I found the sweetness more compelling than the comedy. I would recommend it for people who prefer dialogue and listening to the characters to the standard big noise movies that seem to dominate the film world.

Essentially you have here a "B" list cast of actors (Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen and Alan Alda) - none megastars, but all solid actors - who, as you would expect, put on decent enough performances. The problem with the movie is a story that misses its potential. I acknowledge that I haven't read the book. Maybe this worked better on paper, but on screen this was lacking.

Broderick played Cooper, an editor for a Chicago newspaper who suffers a head injury, and then is called away himself to help care for his uncle (Alan Alda) who's in the early stages of dementia. Madsen is some type of old flame for Cooper with whom he reconnects in his hometown. All three were fine in their roles but this movie had basically two directions in which it could have gone, did a little bit of both and, ultimately, because it had no focus on either, was a disappointment.

This could have been successful as a light-hearted comedy; a humorous look at dealing with the problems of dementia. Alda captured that well; he was believable as a dementia victim, and there were things like his fish-writing obsession that could have made this touchingly funny, but those moments were few and far between. Or, this could have gone the route of emotional drama, as we watch Alda's character of Rollie (and those around him) deal with his decline, but again those moments were few and far between. There was a moment when I thought the movie had made a choice - the very powerful scene when Rollie is missing and Cooper finds him in anguish in the bathroom at the card show; lost, confused and embarrassed at what's happened. But that moment also gets lost. Instead of that, the story focuses for some reason on the old baseball card - a 1909 Cubs card that Rollie's grandfather gave him as a keepsake and that he now wants to sell. Even that could have been touching enough, but the card ends up being used primarily as a prop for staging slapstick humour, especially the ridiculous "fight" scene at the end of the movie.

Also burdened with unnecessary characters (especially Donny, but even Madsen's Charlotte to an extent) this was really a disappointment. 3/10

I found this DVD at a garage sale and I was shocked that I never heard anything about this movie. A killer cast with horrible cover art. The story was wonderfully quirky. I cared for the characters and was fascinated by the plot complications. There was a nice combination of humor and sadness. The story of country folks trying to survive in the big city of Chicago was a nice touch. I loved the real Cubs footage and could feel the pain of some of the fans portrayed in the film. I once loved baseball and I would imagine any true fan would get a kick out of the real baseball references throughout the film. Overall a satisfying surprise

Good watchable indy movie in the vein of "Little Miss Sunshine". Liked the ensemble of quirky characters with their mental and other problems. Alan Alda is quite good as the elderly man with Diminished Capacity with a valuable baseball card to sell. His mental problems aren't overdone. His nephew trying to help is played by the quite well cast Matthew Broderick though he is a bit puffy looking. Virginia Madsen looks quite pretty with her lovely face. She is a bit broad in the mid section. Bobby Cannavale is quite good in his intense over the top role. It's not one to watch more than once like Sunshine or Sideways, but it's worth one watch.