L'ultima vacanza

I saw the movie it was great I think Jonathan Silverman, C. Thomas Howell, Justin Bateman, and Annie Potts did great. It was pretty emotional when Phil (Justin Bateman) was dying. I'm surprised it's not even a cult classic. It would've been nice if they had someone else other than Annie Potts I think she was too old for all three.

I'm always a sucker for those `what can you say about a girl/guy who's died' kinda movies. From Love Story to Torch Song Trilogy to Brian's Song, in the movies there is a certain sort of nobility endowed by dying. It's a mystery that we all fear and wonder about and ultimately face more or less on our own. There may be others present but we do it alone in our own, individual ways.

What's important is what goes before and what we have done for those that we leave behind.

This movie deals with that issue and does it in a life affirming way. What Phil (Jason Bateman) does for Gene (C. Thomas Howell) and Rob (Jonathon Silverman) is get them back together as friends, and helps them deal with his impending death while dealing with it himself in the best way that he can. Yes, this theme has been done before. Yes there are aspects that are completely ignored. And Yes, some parts could have been done better, but overall I'm glad that I saw this movie and think that many others would be too.

The movie is bittersweet without being maudlin. It has heart and lets the viewer see the emotions of three young men, no mean feat for a movie. When Mary Klinglitch (Annie Potts) joins the group it somehow allows the guys to drop some of their masculine bravado and her presence seems to make the group `whole'. Perhaps its her presence that makes it ok for these guys to be `Breaking the Rules' about way men behave when together.

I have to say I'm pretty shocked at the number of positive reviews of this "movie". I stumbled across it today on free TV and was stunned at how awful it was. I pity anyone who sat through this 15 times. I have a deep and embarrassing soft spot for anything mildly sappy but come on, this was atrocious. The scene where C. Thomas is insulting Annie Potts and the guys are "arguing" over her was horrendously written and acted. Nothing felt true or real or honest in this programmed maudlin mess. I wonder if this was the movie that sent C.T. to drinking.

The cast is all very capable and have been good elsewhere but god, I was just cringing for Annie Potts having to spit out tasteless dialogue while mauling Jonathan Silverman as Bateman and Howell watch from the bed. And the cancer makeup on Bateman was terribly done. Didn't buy it for a second.

On this lazy Sunday afternoon when I should be cleaning my house, I ended up turning on FOX t.v. and this movie was already in progress. Since that's one of the few channels that comes in on my antenna, I just left the t.v. on for company as I made something to eat.

Of course, I recognize the fact that I was missing something by turning on in the middle, and I didn't know what was really going on in the movie for a while. I remember standing in the kitchen hearing the '90s soundtrack running and thinking of how awful '90s movies were in many cases because of that. I returned to the living room to eat and casually watch the movie and thought to myself, "Why on earth did some idiot programming director decide that THIS would be the movie they'd show this afternoon?!" Oh, then I watched further and found out that Phil was dying. And I'm a sucker for the make-you-wanna-cry movies. I'm no sissy; and I've put it together, and realized that movies like this that make you confront someone's impending death help me little by little to find peace about my own mother's death in 2001.

I was so touched by the way this movie dealt with death and friendship, that I went from thinking it was horrible and dumb to thinking it was thoughtful, evocative, sentimental, heartfelt and touching (if not totally realistic). And another thing, I went from finding the dialog utterly '90s-moronic and goofy, to finding it appropriate and well-done. (This was after the middle part of the movie in which it is treated as just another buddies-on-a-trip goofoff.) Other movies may deal with death, and may do it better on occasion, but none of them have the incredibly sympathetic Jason Bateman as the dying person. His character and his portrayal are 90% of what I ended up enjoying about Breaking the Rules.

"BREAKING THE RULES" has a good cast and a competent storyline that provides an "anything can happen" atmosphere, yet the end result is far from satisfying.

With Neal Israel at the helm, and the talents of Jonathan Silverman, Jason Bateman, C. Thomas Howell and Annie Potts, I expected much more, but the overall feel of the film is that of "un-feeling". Most of the situations are just not funny, and I wish I could care for the plight of these characters, but I didn't.

There are all too many implausibilities that plague the film and take away from it's potential. For example, Howell, Bateman and Silverman have several moments in the film where they "croon" out a few tunes, and their stand-in singing voices are beyond unbelievable, which ultimately distracts the possible fun of these scenes.

This is not a bad film, but it could have been so much better.