A Vida é Agora

This is a sweet and somewhat sad story of a man played by Billy Crystal who is in the earlier stages of dementia, mourning the loss of his wife, and forming a friendship with a woman played by Tiffany Haddish. The friendship is really sweet and there are nice moments of humor interspersed with the sadder stuff. His grief for and connection to his late wife is the most moving of all. Have tissues on hand.

It's nice to see Billy Crystal on the big screen again. This film is like spending two hours with an old friend. With that being said, the film is quite good in parts, but the sum parts don't add up to a great film.

Crystal plays a comedy writer who is experiencing the beginning stages of dementia. He keeps this from his family and tries his best to hide it from everyone at work. Tiffany Haddish plays a woman who cashed in on an auction her ex boyfriend won to have lunch with the famous writer. This is despite not knowing who he is and ultimately insulting him frequently. She addresses him as "old man." To make matters worse, a food allergy lands her in the hospital and Crystal gets stuck with the bill. Oddly, a close friendship develops.

Haddish's initial over the top characterization of this woman is ill conceived. We later learn that she is some sort of jazz subway singer. She eventually becomes the voice of reason for Crystal and a major player In his life. But through it all, she never quite becomes a cohesive believable character.

Flashbacks are frequent as Crystal imagines his deceased wife. These are always awkward as the wife seems to be the exact same age in every flashback and Crystal's voice is only heard.

The film has some touching moments and the relationship between Haddish and Crystal does evolve into a sweet friendship. But the schmaltzy moments between Crystal and his family toward the end detracted from their story. The film needed more focus as it tried to cover too much ground in 2 hours.

This is a review so I'm nitpicking. Overall, I did enjoy the film and especially Billy Crystal's fine performance. I believe most audience members will too.

Ignore all the pseudo bored sophisticates who call this sentimental lovefest nonsense. It's a real look at what it means to be family and how we deal with the things we regret as we get older. Yes, some of it falls flat and yes, some of the family scenes seem to move a little too quickly. But it's well intentioned and worth a sit through.

The movie is not for the general audience, nor is it a difficult movie. I loved Billy Crystal's idea of using New York as a theater stage. Because New York itself is in the lead role of the movie. I would buy the blu-ray edition of the movie for myself.

I hope Billy Crystal directs more. We are in an age where we miss cinema (real motion pictures made for cinema).

This is the kind of movie "the rest of us" have been waiting for--no CGI, no auteur sensibilities--just good story telling with tons of belly laughs. We were pleasantly surprised at the depth of Crystal's performance. Both of us immediately thought Oscar Worthy. And, who doesn't love Tiffany Haddish?!?!?!?!