Never Too Late

When Peter ran the Sunshine Manor home for the elderly, it was always in the red. After his death, his son Carl changed all that. Woody used to keep the books and has become a resident; his health is not good and he needs an inhaler. An interesting fact about Woody: the house where he was born has the kitchen in Vermont, but the bathroom is in Quebec.

Joseph, who met Peter during World War II and has an accent (he mentions the Czech language, so he must be from Czechoslovakia) paid for Peter's funeral but did not get reimbursed from the estate like he expected. His bridge partners Olive and Rose offer to help, but Woody, the fourth member of the group, can't pay anything because Carl has power of attorney and claims Woody is broke. If Woody tries to regain control of his funds, Carl knows how Woody doctored the home's finances.

Joseph's grandson Max wants to be an actor, but Joseph wishes he would get a real job because Max owes him money. Max's latest role is as Romeo in a production where Juliet leads him around on a leash, wears leather, and uses a whip.

Olive was a legal secretary and is now confined to a wheelchair after an accident, but she is very pleasant, intelligent, determined and independent. She hosts a TV talk show called 'Old and Wise'.

Joseph, Rose and Olive suspect Carl of misusing the funds of the home's residents. Olive proves to be quite a sleuth, and former actress Rose returns to the theater. Max gets the role of his life. The process of finding out just what is going on makes the second half of this movie quite fascinating and humorous. And the ending turns out to be quite complicated with numerous twists.

This could have been the pilot for a series. Cloris Leachman was absolutely wonderful. Once again I found myself regretting the fact that I never watched Angela Lansbury's series 'Murder, She Wrote' on a regular basis when it was still on CBS (and I'm too cheap to see it on cable or otherwise). And I saw the potential for another similar project for Leachman.

Olympia Dukakis was quite good as Rose, especially later in the movie.

All the other leading actors gave good performances. I'm not sure about Matt Craven, but he did go from pleasant to wicked rather quickly. He seemed kind of cartoonish compared to the others, but still entertaining. Frances Bay did a convincing job of portraying a resident of the home who was near death. And there were a couple of other residents of the home, especially the one who yodeled, who added a lot to the movie.

This was great.

I was lucky enough to learn that this Canadian-made movie was going to air on a local station a few months back. After watching it, I am glad I make sure I check out what that station airs in the earliest hours of the morning. `Never Too Late' features a cast of veteran actors, a rare thing in these modern times when our older stars are often ignored. The four leads are Jan Rubes, Olympia Dukakis, Cloris Leachman, and Jean Lapointe as retirees. They get together to play cards and talk about good old days, and Dukakis is the newest member of the group following the death of the other three's friend. Jan Rubes is hard-nosed, cranky, and stubborn, resisting the presence of Dukakis. She, on the other hand, is stubborn too, and gives him guff to the point where Rubes is speechless. These are the films best moments, giving too good actors a chance to really show emotion. I could tell that Rubes' character was not one that was used to being talked back to. Of course, all their bickering means that they really like each other and have no other way of expressing it. Seeing this develop is a real treat.

The main plot of the movie involves a local retirement home that Lapointe is living in. It is run by a shady Matt Craven, who the group believes to be embezzling the money the residents are paying him. After a rather bad confrontation with Craven, Lapointe has a stroke and is hospitalized. The others, smelling something funny, wants to stop Craven from leaving the country with all the people's money. To do this they send in Dukakis as a decoy, pretending that she is filthy rich to keep Craven around until he makes a move on her phantom money. This ploy, while sometimes confusing (it was hard to understand the computer aspect of Craven's fraudulent scheme), is a delight.

One of the reasons I saw this film is because Corey Haim, who I have always liked, has a part in it. He plays Rubes' grandson, aspiring to be an actor. Rubes is disgusted by Haim, who can only get work in a very seedy play. When Haim invites the old folks to the play, it is a sight to behold. I was laughing hard. For the rest of the movie, I was laughing at what I was supposed to be laughing at and grinning at everything else. This is a good movie that sadly will not be seen by many. It gives a great ensemble cast a chance to really show people what they can do. Lets hope these actors are given more chances before they are no longer with us. It's never too late to try. Zantara's score: 7 out of 10.