Wild Oats

I was so happy to see a movie with such a fantastic cast of old people - I especially love Shirley MacLain and Billy Connolly, and the rest of the cast was also good. However, the script went from mediocre to really bad, the plot was worse, and the whole thing nose-dived in the second half. Which is a shame, it had such potential. No wonder it never opened in the theaters. I wish they would redo it, write a decent plot with an improved script, and re-release it next year. They would only have to do the second half. The movie starts out with MacLain and Lange at the funeral of MacLain's husband. It goes on to show the widow receive a falsely made out check from his life insurance. One of the best scenes in the whole movie is her calling the insurance company to try to straighten out the mistake. Then the story already starts to go downhill. Why doesn't she just deposit the check without worrying about being arrested? Or just send it back and ask for a correct one with a payment of $50,000 instead of 5 million? Everything is overdone with no reason behind it. And it just gets steadily worse with very little good stuff in between. It is not even worth watching for the actors, as the script is abominable.

I just adored Wild Oats. MacLaine and Jessica are so electric when on screen together, their chemistry works so well and it is so heartwarming to see these two veteran legendary screen icons interact and be so close. Demi Moore is good here too, her supporting performance is focused and it just hits the spots that are necessary. There are so many funny lines of dialogue in this film and I loved hearing them come from the actors on screen, because they were just the right people for them, I'm glad Demi replaced SJP too, I mean I like SJP, but Demi is better in this particular role. The plot may seem trite and formulaic, and in some ways, it is, but I suggest that you actually sit down and watch this movie, it may surprise you. It was much more emotional and touching then I expected it to be, especially towards the ending. Also, it teaches great messages, it teaches messages of long term true friendship, love, coping with loss, and that you are never too old to let loose and have a little fun, age is but a number folks. 8/10 for Wild Oats, go enjoy it, it won't let ya down! Also, like the second to last scene of the movie is just sooo sweet and touching and it almost made me cry!

Both Shirley and Jessica are experienced talents capable of bringing to live a real topper script, compared to this humdrum 1980s TV movie script they've been saddled with.

If they had their hands on a truly competent script, these two would sizzle in both the comedic and dramatic aspects. The direction don't fare any much better, and all you get is a lazy evening mildly enjoyable fare.

Demi Moore is given next to nothing real to do here, except mouth tacky predictable soap opera lines ... another waste!

What wasted opportunity with such acting talents on hand!

Andy Tennant (Director here) just snoozing out another of his sub-par bland celluloid.

The producer, script writer, director ... all ought to be zip-locked and cast away into 80s TV movie land!

Shirley MacLaine, a recently-widowed retired schoolteacher, and Jessica Lange, her best friend of 40 years who was recently dumped by her husband, decide to take advantage of an insurance agency's error and deposit MacLaine's check for $50,000,000 that should have been made out for $50,000; Howard Hesseman, the agency's oldest employee, is selected as the patsy who must get the company's money back or be fired. Geriatric travelogue takes the ladies to Gran Canaria, a picturesque island in Spain, where Shirley is taken in by con-artist Billy Connolly, who prays on wealthy widowed tourists. With so much plot packed into its 86-minute running time, it's no wonder that director Andy Tennant wasn't able to keep it all together. The opening scenes, with MacLaine behaving addle-brained and Lange acting much older than she actually is, are funny and silly but tolerable; second-half in Spain becomes a squashy narrative mess, with lots of 'cute' asides between the gals, who banter in a casual low-key, gamble, meet men, end their sex droughts, and never miss a chance to hug or cry. It's a little old lady's wish-fulfillment fantasy done up like a TV sitcom. ** from ****

This film offers two good performances amidst a terrible screenplay and annoying characters. Shirley MacLaine and Jessica Lange play longtime friends who hightail it to the Canary Islands (where the entire film was shot) after MacLaine receives an erroneous insurance check for $5M. They get makeovers and meet up with a vague and really annoying man (Billy Connolly) who squires the ladies to a casino where MacLaine wins a bundle. In the meantime an insurance investigator (Howard Hesseman) drags MacLaine's daughter (a dour Demi Moore) along as he chases them down. MacLaine and Lange keep things afloat up to this point, but the already-bad screenplay takes another bad turn and becomes ludicrous. The two Oscar-winning stars are great fun, but the other characters as written are too annoying for the actors to salvage them. This film was in development for years and has a long list of actors attached to various roles. Could have been a lot of fun.