Guardo, ci penso e nasco

its beauty seems be an old fashion one. and this does it special. because it is one of films who looking for values in convincing way. and, for an admirer of Anton Yelchin, like me, it is a kind of refuge. for the others, I suppose, it is a great film for admirable performances, for a story sweet-bitter, for Bridget Fonda performance and for Albert Finney proposing a real provocative perspective about duty of an angel and the virtues of friendship. so, a real, real beautiful film. with entire classic potential.

I, being a mere teenager, feel quite awful being surrounded by the events in the outside world. This movie really made me realize the better things about life.

In my opinion, Albert Finney, no matter how hammy his acting was, did quite well considering what kind of character he was playing.

Anton Yelchin also wasn't bad, but I hated the character he was playing, for I feel that Milo was acting selfish and annoying.

Overall, I find that this movie is quite enjoyable for a quiet Sunday morning, or anytime you are feeling a little down. This movie, though having a religious element, can really be enjoyed by all. Come on people, it's just a movie, not a display of what religion is right or wrong. It just gives you something to watch.

Probably a bad combination: watching a movie like this while reading William Goldman's "Which Lie Did I Tell?", among other things an incisive (and often hilarious) dissection of all the things that can go wrong in the development of a screenplay. So, here I am in an airplane, with "Which Lie Did I Tell?" in my lap, and "Delivering Milo" on the screen...

If I had to give the shortest accounting of the problem with "Milo," it would be: if you know where you're going, the journey better be the part with the surprises. And there just aren't a lot of surprises. This is a screenplay that starts with a cute concept, wraps with a cash-cow ending, and leaves out anything memorable or really enjoyable in the middle.

Performances were, well, mediocre. Albert Finney was good in many places, but has morphed distractingly into William "Priceline" Shatner's doppleganger in appearance. I kept thinking this would have been a *great* showcase role for George Carlin; he would have put quite a bit more edge and humor into it.

Bridget Fonda was fine but not spectacular, the actor playing her husband veers heavily into Robert Hays territory, and Lesley Ann Warren is pretty much wasted as yet another brassy dame, a muted turn on her role in Victor/Victoria. The kid playing Milo was apparently cloned off of Elijah Wood Jr.'s genetic material, although not entirely successfully.

But the "camp counselors" ...what happened here? Did they raid a sophomore high school drama class en masse, with no consideration for who might have talent? Or did the director just think it would make things even more zany and off-kilter if everyone trotted out their most bogus, high-falutin' accent? I did think Alison Lohman was awfully pretty, though.

All that being said, I still got all watery-eyed at the ending, and the one riff I *didn't* see hurtling through the Holland Tunnel hours in advance was the very last little tidbit, which I did like. But touching family moments will do that to me every time -- you can reel me in with an AT&T ad -- that doesn't mean the filmmakers didn't waste a moderately interesting premise by forgetting to write a compelling middle.

5/10

I saw this movie just a few hours ago at the Cleveland International Film Festival and I found it to be an excellent movie.

I must strongly disagree with the other reviewers who've panned the movie.

I'll admit that the movie has a few Hollywood elements and better-than-indie production values. It also has an understated, but important, plot element that involves religion. It's also sentimental, it could be classified as a date movie or even a "family movie."

This is a wonderful movie about freedom and redemption. I found it well-crafted, well-acted (Albert Finney is just terrific) and for a movie with a bit of fantasy, very much believable on that level with few plot holes. Yes, you just might figure out a few things half or three-quarters of the way thru the flick, but so what.

I would urge anyone thinking about seeing this movie to reject the too-critical reviews. It's not a Coppola flick and it doesn't pretend to be. But it's not "Ghost" either. This movie delivers what it promises - a good yarn, told, acted and directed well.

On a slightly peripheral note, I see that this movie, finished in 2000, has yet to find a distributor. This movie would be a winner at the box office. I'm not a moviemaker, but I have a few friends who are. I've heard them complain about not being able to find distributors for their very indie movies. NOW I understand.

Want to just have a nice, enjoyable evening out at the movies? Then go see Milo.

If one goes into this film knowing the plot and then complains that the concept is ridiculous, I would have to question that person's sanity. This is a fantasy; anyone taking it seriously lives in more of a fantasy world than this film.

That said, does the film deliver? Acting: excellent all the way around; all of the actors deliver. Filming, music, sound, everything his fine.

The problem is with the writing and subsequent directing. This film had a basic purpose, that purpose was well-established from the very beginning. But beyond that much of the presentation feels two-dimensional, without really getting down to the heart of the issues. The use of card reading as a major plot tool was a let-down. Instead of establishing solid, good reasons for the finale they resort to a rather lame plot device.

There is one moment in the film where an emotional connection is made. Beyond that, while the characters were enjoyable and Finney was certainly a delight to watch, the entire film misses the personal, emotional connections that were essential to a film of this nature. In short, the director was so busy taking Milo (and the audience) on a sight-seeing tour, they regularly missed the heart of the story. They tried to make up for that in the end in the diner, but still didn't quite hit the target.

This is one of those "could have been good" films, and probably one of the rare films that was 1 1/2 hours long and could have stood to be 2 hours, with more personal interaction and heart in the concept. As it is, while I enjoyed watching it, the end left me feeling somewhat let down and disappointed. They could have done better with the plot elements... and should have.