The Last Request

I have seen this movie. It is awful. The only way this thing could possible have 10 star reviews is by the film maker family and friends doing them.

This movie is unwatchable, it is horrible. The acting is okay, but the story itself, and the writing, are unbelievably, excruciatingly bad.

I rented this piece of crap due to its 2 5-star reviews in Amazon. Figured it was worth a shot for a Friday movie night with friends. No. It was not. 5 people watched. The reactions to said movie ranged from really stupid and boring to absolutely horrible.

I do not understand how they managed to bet a fairly good cast together for this. Were there blackmail photo's lying around? Were favors owed?

This writer/director, John Debellis, reminds me of Woody Allen in the early years. It's hard to believe that this is somebody's first film! And how did he get all the well known actors to do the production as a relatively unknown in the film community? I thought Mario Cantone was perfectly cast and it was wonderful to see T.R Knight on the big screen- and this was before joining Greys Anatomy! I guess the director spotted this talent before the networks ha ha. I loved the Godmother scene- the actress was amazing and it was directed very well...I recently read that the film won best director at a film festival in Italy. The Jiffy Pop birth scene was like vintage Woody- this writer has an incredibly offbeat imagination! Barbara Feldon was wonderful- hysterically neurotic! Great to see one of the Sopranos guys, Vincent Pastore as a priest- one of my favorite scenes!Great story and I thought that the DP did an absolutely incredible job. I look forward to seeing more films by Debellis. I'm shocked that it's not in theatres!

As one who grew up east coast Italian, I found myself laughing throughout the movie. It not only brought back memories of my childhood experience but the surprising twists kept me carried me through the plot effortlessly. I only wish it was longer than 90 minutes. T. R Knight is great, very sympathetic and funny caught in his situation. Danny Aiello is terrific, as always, and Barbra Felton is still a doll. Wish we could see her in more films. The grandmother's running gag was hysterical. Tony LoBianco, Vincent Pastore and Frank Vincent bring authenticity to the Italian American background and Joe Piscopo is a hoot. John De Bellis really rings the bell with this one. Can't wait until his next film opens.

Danny A. is no comic master and I should have learned that from "Hudson Hawk." No, in a flick like this he's more into yukking it up on his own end, and not the audience. Laughing all the way to the bank would be my guess.

I wasn't kidding, 15 minutes was all I could invest in this crap, and the only other movie I had left to watch was a foreign film that looked riskier. It wasn't, thus, a low-budget horror offering from New Zealand beats Danny A. and company. It wasn't even close.

Danny! Stick with mob movies with lots of blood. There's still time. Avoid comedy, Dan.

A friend told me to rent this film and as usual he was right. This was a very funny film sort of an updated early Woody Allen. The were some great visuals and funny, strange characters. The simplicity of the story, which surprisingly worked in conjunction with the wild humor.

The writer was very clever in that he must have written this to appeal to both old and young. The humor being wacky, the story about coming of age, yet much of it was set in an old age home. He was blending the twenty something TR Knight's struggle to grow up with the old peoples struggle just to hang on.

Danny Aiello was great playing the dying father, who's last request is for one of his sons to carry on the family name. Without telling you too much TR if forces to quit the seminary and take on the challenge. And a challenge is what he goes through. Using therapy he works past his detached mother to rise to that challenge. It's a very funny, simple movie with lots of laughs and some heart. Rent it.