The Last Time

After browsing through some titles online on Netflix, I watched The Last Time on a whim. Lately I've been enjoying romances and I also work in sales, so I thought this might be an interesting film for me personally. I wasn't expecting too much since the ratings are rather mediocre and I had never heard of this movie, but I am glad I gave it a look.

Michael Keaton is absolutely brilliant in this movie. He is the top salesman for a company and is driven by an inner rage that makes him successful. He is forced to take the bumbling Brendan Fraser under his wing and the fun begins. Keaton is great fun as this confident jerk who tells it like it is. His relationship with Fraser and Fraser's fiancé, however, pulls on Keaton's inner demons and he begins to change. I think the description of this film is best left at that.

The Last Time is a nice little psychological thriller with a touch of romance added to the equation. It is definitely worth a look. Rating 8 of 10 stars.

In my opinion. This is a very entertaining, not great, movie which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I had the privilege of watching this film a few minutes ago. Since my opinion is still fresh and wouldn't be influenced by anything else at this very moment (at least not dramatically), I thought I'd share my thoughts.

Yes, my summary is "It doesn't know what it wants to be", and that is it's main flaw. Director, Michael Caleo, was brave enough to incorporate numerous themes and genres into this confused work. What starts off to be your average two lead comedy, wanders off into the thriller territory, and attempts to simultaneously touch upon the Rom-Com genre. I say Caleo was brave, because he took a risk where the odds were against him. He attempted something that could have easily failed, he tried to defy the conventions of your average Comedy/Drama by reinforcing (forcing, even) innovation.

Was it a complete failure? I wouldn't say so. I've been rather generous with my '6' rating, but there were a few redeeming qualities about it. The most overt quality was mainly Michael Keaton's on screen presence. His charisma was present, as always, and quirky demeanour was reminiscent of his pre 90s career. As for the rest of the cast, Brendan Fraser and Amber Valletta were tolerable, but nothing amazing.

The twist that unravels as the conclusion was lowbrow and felt rushed. In fact, a lot of the dialogue felt rushed. There seemed to be a lot of reliance on foul language to encapsulate it's comedic elements that it attempted to implement.

I'd like to sum this up by saying that if you aren't a Michael Keaton or Brendan Fraser fan, you might find it hard to be engaged, because as a movie on it's own, it isn't very good. However, it isn't all bad, Caleo's attempt is worth having a look at. The Last Time is an unconventional Dramedy (sort of) that didn't quite achieve what it wanted to.

I usually agree pretty much with the IMDb-Ratings but in this case I find it really amazing that it only gets 6.3 points (08/07). Okay, sometimes when you don't expect too much (because of poor ratings you get surprised and tend to overrate it. I give it a perfect ten anyway. Why? This is a wonderfully drafted/crafted drama thriller with excellent acting (especially Michael Keaton). The twists are fantastic and so are the dialogue. (I envy the screenwriter and will keep track of the director's career, too!) It delivers a great insight into the everyday life of an (unsuccessful) salesman. If you loved Wall Street and have a soft spot for B movies, you will like this one even more than Wall Street. Watch it!

I did not think that this movie totally sucked. It was a thought provoking reflection of American culture and values. It causes one to wonder how far another human being will go to make money and how easily non-materialistic individuals in a capitalistically oriented culture can be duped by sharks that will rip them to shreds like defenseless bait. One weakness of the film was its depiction of women as greedy piranhas that only seek nourishment from money not love. There were no non-materialistic female characters in the film to balance out this theme resulting in a rather over-generalized characterization of women. If one can get past this problem, the premise that those obsessed with making money will go to unspeakable, evil lengths to attempt to satisfy their insatiable greed is an interesting theme to consider. If you rent the DVD expect to be entertained, but not completely enthralled.