One Last Thing...

"One Last Thing" is that rare thing, a small film that's big on entertainment while never compromising its intimate feel. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and then you'll laugh and cry some more. "One Last Thing" takes the story of a teenager, dying of cancer, and turn it into a celebration of life that is neither sappy, nor cliché. On the verge of accepting a charitable organization's last wish of a fishing trip with his football hero, the young Dylan throws caution to the wind and states his real wish on live TV: to spend a weekend alone with supermodel Nikki Sinclair. Michael Angarano ("Seabiscuit," "Lords Of Dogstown," "Will & Grace) as the dying Dylan, Cynthia Nixon ("Sex and The City") as his widowed mom, and hot, hot, hot newcomer Sunny Mabrey ("xXx State of the Union") as the gorgeous but troubled model, bring amazing chemistry to Barry Stringfellow's remarkable script. Deftly directed by Alex Steyermark ("Prey For Rock & Roll"), the cast is rounded out by the likes of Gina Gershon, Wyclef Jean, Johnny Messner, Coati Mundi, Michael Rispoli. And added bonus is a wonderful, uncredited turn by Ethan Hawk as Dylan's father who also died from cancer a few years before. I heard about "One Last Thing," of all places, on my classical radio station KUSC here in L.A. Evening host Jim Svedja was so impressed by it at a screening that he took time from his usual musical broadcast to rave about the flick and interview Mr. Stringfellow, Mr. Steyemark and Ms. Mabrey (tough duty I'll bet). He even offered a money back guarantee. Alas, HD-Net the company that released "One Last Thing" apparently lacked his good taste and enthusiasm. After a bare bones release, the film was quickly released on DVD via their "genius" day-date release policy. Fortunately, the DVD is widely available and the small screen doesn't diminish the big pleasure that is "One Last Thing." I don't have Mr. Svedja's deep pockets, but I guarantee you it won't disappoint you.

This movie was actually a good film that surprised me a little bit. When I rented it, based on what I had read about it, I was expecting to see a raunchy teen flick. Instead, it turned out to be a not-bad film that balanced comedy and drama in it. In the movie, a teenager is dying from cancer. A foundation that grants wishes to dying youngsters has him appear on television to make his "one last wish," and everyone thinks he is going to ask for a fishing trip with his favorite football player. Instead, he asks for a weekend with a hot supermodel whose bikini-clad image adorns his wall on a poster. We then shift to the supermodel, who is portrayed as somewhat on the hot-tempered side and has totally exasperated her manager. The model is surprised when she learns about the wish and reluctantly agrees to meet him. After a couple disappointing meetings, the boy becomes frustrated too. I will leave the rest to you to watch to figure out what happens. All in all, this was a decent way to spend an hour and a half of your time, and I recommend it. It has both funny and tear-jerking moments.

** 1/2 out of ****

ONE LAST THING is the next film from Magnolia Pictures. MagPics is of course the distribution arm of 2929 Entertainment, which is owned by Dallas Maverick Mark Cuban.

Last year, 2929 announced that it was eliminating its movie windows and that it was essentially making its DVDs available in stores at the same time as the film's release in theaters.

Basically, if you prefer to see this movie on the big screen, you can go to your nearest Landmark theater on Friday, May 5th.

But, if you don't, you can go instead to the video store and pick it up on Tuesday, May 23rd and not have to wait so long for the DVD.

It won't be the usual 3-month or 5-month distance between the film and DVD releases. However, regardless of how one chooses to see it, I recommend that no one does.

So far, MagPics and 2929 have been putting out some great material including two great documentaries, ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM and HERBIE HANCOCK: POSSIBILITIES, as well as some interesting dramas like BUBBLE and THE WAR WITHIN, so when I heard about this movie I got excited, especially since I saw it playing at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

Philly is my hometown and most of the movie was filmed there, specifically in the Marcus Hook neighborhood. The story centers on Dylan, a 16-year-old kid who is dying of cancer. Cynthia Nixon from "Sex and the City" plays his widowed mother. United Wish Givers, a Make-A-Wish foundation-type of organization, decides to grant Dylan one wish before he keels over from cancer.

At first, they think his wish is to go fishing with super star football player Jason O'Malley, but during the press conference, Dylan recants and says his wish is really to have sex with super-beautiful, super model Nikki Sinclair in her mid to upper 20s. What proceeds are Dylan's attempts to make that wish come true.

But, instead of ONE LAST THING, the movie should have been titled "The Film That Tries to Justify Statutory Rape." This film is more about taking us to a contrived destination that defies reason or believability than really giving us something honest and real. It tries to be heartfelt but really just comes off superficial and annoying.

For example, Dylan's two friends, Ricky and Slap, played by Philly natives Matt Bush and Gideon Glick, tag along when Dylan sets out to New York to score with the super model, but while Dylan is throwing up in the bathroom and is clearly becoming sicker, all his friends want to do is concentrate on sneaking into a strip club.

Wow, two teenage, horny boys with a one track mind! Haven't we seen this before? Haven't the American Pie movies been enough? Couldn't the screenwriter, Barry Stringfellow, have come up with something else a bit more original, or supporting characters with maybe a bit more depth? Also, Wyclef Jean plays a foreign cab driver. How cliché! Jean's cab driver magically drops in here and there for no real reason and his appearance seems only to add a little color to this otherwise lame white-washed world.

Ethan Hawke makes an uncredited cameo, but I'm forced to ask why. His efforts are wasted.

Michael Angarano who plays Dylan is a cute kid and potentially a great actor, but I was "so" not impressed with his performance here, and quite frankly I haven't really been impressed with any of the movies I've seen him in. He was funny though as Jack's son Elliott on the NBC TV show "Will & Grace."

But, I think there are a ton of better actors in his age group like British actors Jamie Bell and Max Minghella, Canadian import Kevin Zegers, Dane Christensen, Jesse Eisenberg, and Robert Ri'chard. Watch out for these guys in the future, all of them are amazing.

More amazing than I've seen Angarano, but I don't really blame him though. He did the best he could with what he had to work with, which wasn't much. The script here was simply senseless. Just a bad indie film! Just bad!

I did not think this would be worth watching, so I avoided it. It was only last year and this was the only thing on that I attempted to watch this film. The film it self is about a terminally ill boy who's last wish is to go on a date with a model. The story is truly touching and deserves recommendation for that. Anyone who loves a movie will love this movie with its humour and dramatic experiences found all through the movie. I think this should go down as one of the better attempts from people to make Comedy/Dramas this year. The only drama I can remember that is WAY better then it in this century is Garden State. Overall this film is a good watch and I think fans of cinema will really get a kick out of seeing. You SHOULD see this film.

I had the great pleasure of seeing One Last Thing this weekend at the Philadelphia Film Festival. Twice, in fact – Saturday night's East Coast Premiere and a second screening on Sunday.

The plot involves a 16 year-old (Dylan, played by Michael Angarano) who has a terminal illness. He is given a "last wish" by a national foundation, and making that wish come true is the essence of the story. The wish, and I know I'm not giving anything away here, is to spend a weekend with his favorite supermodel. I generally dislike "reviews" because they invariably give too much away, and that is especially true in this case. So in lieu of posting spoilers, I'll just discuss some general impressions of the film and performances.

Since the earliest days of theater, tragedy and comedy often go hand-in-hand, and it's at the heart of this story. As they say, "you'll laugh, you'll cry" and the audience did. The director, writer, and two of the film's lead actors all hail from the Philadelphia area, which also serves as the setting for much of the film and supplies fodder for the script. Yet I have no doubt that audiences elsewhere will "get the joke" and be able to relate to the working class, oil refinery town which is home to Dylan's family and friends.

The power of this film comes from the script by Barry Stringfellow and a brilliant cast, led by Michael Angarano. Arguably the most sought-after teenage actor in America, Angarano is finally beginning to tackle some powerful leading roles, with the soon-to-be released Bondage (which I saw at its World Premiere last month at SXSW) and now with One Last Thing. As Sky High's Will and Lords of Dogtown's Sid we saw just a hint of the powerful range of Angarano's abilities, and in One Last Thing he uses both his comedic talents as well as dramatic ones in a way that we haven't really seen before. If you liked Sid, you'll love Dylan.

Angarano has an uncanny ability to make us laugh when we want to cry and to make us cry when we want to laugh. It's a real gift, and one which is evident in films like Dear Wendy and Lords of Dogtown. But here is able to use that gift from opening to closing credits. It's no wonder that director Alex Steyermark says that Angarano was really his only choice for this role. Anyone who has seen his films will not be surprised at how elegantly he slips into this character, but no doubt others who are not as familiar with his body of work will discover what many already know.

To say that this is a film about a boy's carnal desires in his last days is to miss the point. Even more than that, One Last Thing is about coping with loss – a son's loss of his father and a mother's loss of her son. It's also about the search for love. "Carpe diem," if you will. The mother here is Cynthia Nixon, who is absolutely heartbreaking in a performance that can only come from deep within. This is a role that lesser actors would find daunting. Who among us hasn't experienced a similar loss? On the other hand, nothing can compare to seeing your child go before you do.

The "love object" (of Dylan – there are others here) is played by Sunny Mabrey. She is the image that has been but a poster on his wall, and his quest to fulfill his dream is only as powerful in its resolution as Mabrey is in her ability to make a petulant supermodel a sympathetic character. But she pulls it off effortlessly. Dylan's partners in crime are his two best buds, Slap and Ricky (Gideon Glick and Matt Bush), who provide much of the comic relief in what would otherwise have threatened to be a heavy-handed statement on death and spiritual belief. Their lines elicit the most laughs and the fact that these were two "real" teenagers, both acting in their first film, gives their performances a ring of truth which more jaded veterans might actually have had to fight to find.

But what struck me more than anything was just how incredibly economical Steyermark and editor Michael Berenbaum are in their work. This is one of the most efficiently constructed films I've ever seen. The tendency lately seems to be to build slowly, sometimes spending up to a third of the film on character development before you begin to see the story unfold. Not here. The basic plot is presented in the very first scene, literally in the opening minutes of the film. From that point on not a moment is wasted – not a shot, not a line, not a frame. Every second here is valuable to the story and yet nothing feels rushed. What a breath of fresh air this was in a season of pretentious, "look-at-me-I'm-an-indie-filmmaker" projects.

Don't let the "teen sex comedy" poster or the ad blurbs fool you. This is a dark comedy in the true sense of the word, packed with the kind of gallows humor that is made especially poignant when the subject is a high school kid. I was moved by One Last Thing, and it will leave you thinking – in my book, the definition of a film that has hit its mark.