Forever Young

I first saw this movie when I was ten years old and have been in love with mel gibson ever since. His performance (big shock) always gets to me. I don't mean to make this a love song to mel, but he has on screen chemistry with everybody, so it's romantic to see him with Jamie Lee curtis and Isabel glasser. Elijah wood is good as one of the less annoying child stars from his era. The story is cute, no oscar winner, but entertaining. A traditional love story in an untraditional plot, Will love wait for me? When do you move on? It's never too late, those kind of things. Again, I saw it when I was a kid and loved it, and now I'm an adult and still enjoy it.

Forever Young goes in a lot of familiar directions -- time travel, a cuddly child and a single mom, a mix of drama, comedy, sci-fi, mystery and romance. But mostly, it manages to be entertaining without offending anyone or forcing the issue.

The early portion of the show -- set in 1939 -- offers a soft, dreamy, realistic look at what that time was like. The characters seem to have been drawn from the audience, from the masses, instead of being picture-perfect in look and dress. The acting is low-key, relaxing and believable. And, while the plot covers a lot of ground, it ties together well and has enough mystery that the viewer won't be able to guess the outcome and is sure to be satisfied with both the journey and the destination.

Forever Young reminded me of Always, starring Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfuss. Both shows are loaded with characters that are easy to like because of who they are and how they respond. Mel Gibson in Forever Young is particularly effective when dealing with the son of Jamie Lee Curtis; you know she's already committed and he cannot hang around, but you find yourself wishing the boy could have Mel for his new dad.

Not offering more shows like this is why theaters have so few under-12 and over-35 movie goers.

FOREVER YOUNG has some big names, like Mel Gibson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Elijah Wood, and George Wendt (Cheers). So with this in mind, you know FOREVER YOUNG has got to be pretty good. And it just so happens, it is.

It's not a great film, but it's good enough to watch, sit through and actually enjoy. Sure, the film is one of those predictable romance films, but aren't they all in this genre?

So take my advice, if it comes on TV watch it, or at the video store if you see it, pick it up. It's not that bad. 3/5 stars-

JOHN ULMER

Captain Daniel McCormick is a happy-go-luck pilot who is known for his risk taken and no-strings lifestyle. As much as he wants to settle down with his longterm sweetheart, he cannot bring himself to say the words. However when she is put into a coma in a car accident and the doctors say there is no hope of recovery he goes off the deep end and decides to volunteer to be frozen in an experiment being carried out by his friend Harry Finley. 53 years later he is woken up in a military storage unit by two young boys who were just messing around. Without a clue what happened to him or what to do, Daniel turns to the two boys for help.

It sounds rather corny and obvious and, in a way, I suppose it is but by not ever playing it for laughs or being self-mocking the film creates a tone that means it all works as long as you meet it on its terms. The story is sentimental and slushy and in this way I imagine it will put many viewers off for being this way. I surprised myself by actually liking it though and finding it all rather engaging and sweet. Although I doubt he knows where Lost is going, Abrams does a good job as writer to avoid cliché and mush the best he can. Miner matches this by directing in a controlled manner that holds back on the sweeping music and emotion until he can actually use them.

The cast work well with this approach and avoid the film becoming a soapy television movie. Gibson may not have had the best of days recently PR-wise (alleged drunk-driving and alleged anti-Semitic remarks) but here he is charming and reasonably good at the emotion. Of course he could have been better considering that when he awoke after 50 years the loss of his wife would still be fresh in his mind. Curtis is solid enough and deals with the material given her. The child support are better than I expected even if they are a bit "cute" in the way all Hollywood kids are. Wood works well with Gibson, which I suppose is the important thing.

Overall this is a solid and enjoyable romantic film that is a bit slushy and melodramatic. It avoids cliché well enough but you do need to meet it on its terms and not be cynical. Not one for the die-hard action fans but it is a good date movie that is gentle and balanced enough to find a mixed audience without losing touch with the genre.

When I was watching this last night, I didn't realize it was written by the creator of "Lost"... and I'm glad I didn't know that, because it would have tainted my opinion.

I expected a sappy love story with a sappy Mel Gibson who takes a nap to wake up and find himself falling in sappy love with the ugly, but sappy, Jamie Lee Curtis and adopting her sappy and bug-eyed son, Elijah Wood. Bless my lucky stars, I was wrong. Mel Gibson is frozen by Norm from Cheers after his girlfriend goes into a coma. He wakes up in 1992 (he slept in 1939) to a whole new world. No sappiness, and Mel Gibson wasn't even sucking as hard as he tends to suck (see "What Women Want" for really hard sucking).

I really liked this film, it kept me from going to sleep on time. You'll like it, too, and maybe even more if you watch it with a date because it's really about how love lasts forever. (They say "diamonds" last forever, but those materialistic bastards wouldn't know real love if it woke up from a 50-year slumber!!!!) See this movie soon, because you never know when your last chance to see it will be.