eladale-90211

This is the most powerful, uplifting, wonderful documentary I have seen in....well, maybe ever. It touched so many warm places in my soul that I can't even begin to relate them all.

Carl Reiner hosts celebrities who give us deeply personal glimpses into their thoughts at the age of 90 and beyond. Rather than being a showcase of past glory and faded memories by icons you might remember, this film is a celebration of all that has brought these people to this age and taught them how to live well and thrive. You might think that being celebrities with wealth and fame, their kind of happiness would be foreign to common folks like us. But as we visit with each celebrity, the common denominator of their humanity sweeps away the star stuff. They make it very clear we all face the same mortality, suffer the same losses, and find our joy in life through the same simple values. When you have lived to 90 and beyond, you have nothing more to prove. Live well and abide by the simple wisdom of just being yourself, giving, loving, and having purpose in your life.

In a world that seems to be increasingly marked by milestones of tragedy and loss, this documentary serves as a joyous reminder of what is really important in life. It has impacted me deeply, at age 60. And my 90 year old mother in law was just as moved when she saw it. She has asked to watch it again.

If I could, I would personally thank every one who was interviewed for this film for giving so much of themselves. Those who filmed, edited, and created the vessel to convey these messages did an outstanding job. This was beautiful, entertaining, and thought provoking in a way that makes you just want to burst with happiness. It was a truly unexpected gift. Thank you.

The story is about greed, loss, and redemption. And that should strike a positive chord in many of us. But this film took a wrong turn from the beginning, as the greedy simply chewed up and spit out one of their own, James Adams, and apparently went on it's merry way. Seeing their fall guy lose a few of his expensive assets didn't garner sympathy from me. It should have brought about cheers from working class folks.....the ones who lost the most in the mortgage schemes exemplified in the opening scenes of the movie.

Instead, when he lands in the middle of a Waffle House rip-off on Main Street, America, they welcome the fallen Adams into their midsts. And the working men and women he meets fit a neat paint-by-numbers stereotype of "We are po', but we are happy". It seems the only person suffering more than a squabble with their wife is our protagonist. He is suffering through a scheme to finance another big deal that could save his way of life. How awful for him.

I took this movie as an excuse for greed. I saw it as a marginalization of working America. Adams' fall was a tiny bit of comeuppance for a small player in a system that stole a massive amount of wealth from the world and got away with it. I am happy for Mr. Adams' real life turnaround and redemption. We are all entitled to redemption. But I am angered by the financial fiasco that was...and still is. I was annoyed at the treatment of working class folks. The film did manage to pull together a relatively cohesive story with nothing more than an endless string of clichés. That takes some skill. And that is why I gave this movie more than a 1.

We are introduced to the main protagonist, James Adams, as a driven, focused man. Every attempt is made to portray him as afflicted with some Aspergers-like, Autistic Spectrum disorder. He is focused. He is blank. He responds inappropriately to social cues. And in that, he is well suited to his original corporate role of legally conning people into bad mortgage investments. These affectations may have been offered up as a reason or excuse for what he did in the financial world, but they do little to bring him to life or to win our hearts as the story goes forward.

The character of Becky Adams, his wife, is portrayed as a spoiled, narcissistic and selfish woman who only seems to offer up real emotions when threatened with losing something she wants. She is also a very unsympathetic character.

It is very difficult to feel their loss. More to the point, I found myself resenting them in their entitlement.

As we go forward, we meet a short list of empty and false characterizations. From businessmen to Realtors to buyers.....the movie failed to miss one stereotypical portrayal. And I am dismayed about the smiling, happy portrayals of cooks, waitresses, and ex-cons. The film's denial of the reality of working class issues shows that it is still rooted in the culture of wealth and greed and the American dream....for those who are privileged enough to still find it.

Danny Glover's portrayal of grill man, Edward Collins was workmanlike, but the character was bogged down with too many tired clichés. Glover tried, but the character was unsalvageable.

The bright spot in the whole movie was Crazy Kathy, portrayed by Dale Dickey. Seemingly outrageous, Crazy Kathy was the most real, most human of them all. But credit also has to go to Adam Johnson for a fine acting job playing the manager, Mathew Linslow. He was very believable and added a hint of humor.....something the film really needed.

We all know adversity and we all hope we can emerge from it as better people. The enlightenment that is found at the end of some personal trial is only a small part of the story. It's the journey that makes up the substance of the tale. That is the meat on the bones. The journey of self discovery lends credibility and validates the big payoff at the end.

This is where Waffle Street fails. Redemption comes. But it's built on a foundation of characterizations that I can only describe as empty, derogatory, and in many cases, insulting. It was as if the "manual on racial and social stereotypes" was used by the writers. The last third of the movie tries to breathe a little depth into a few of the characters, but was too little....too late. This film lost me early on. It never got me back.

Yes. I gave the obligatory eye roll when I saw the title. Another disaster movie. Another low budget attempt to make a movie with meaning. A rubber stamp copy of a copy of a copy. I went into viewing this with low expectations, thinking I wouldn't get past the first 10 minutes. But I was wrong.

From the beginning, this movie showed it did not take itself too seriously. It parodied all movies of this genre with a tongue in cheek innocence that belied it's self effacing motive. It had me smiling from end to end.

The clichés came with regularity and predictability. It's kind of like sitting in a Rocky Horror Picture Show revival. You know the lines. You speak them out loud. You throw rice. It's great fun as long as you accept you are part of the joke and it's OK to laugh.

Guttenberg and Peeples looked like they had so much fun with their roles. Their campy caricatures of people with greatness thrust upon them by adversity couldn't have been played (or overplayed, if you like) any better. And who could ever resist Michael Winslow?

This movie was a hoot. Take it for what it is....a very clever play on the genre.