The Last Request

It's just plan fun. Nothing deep. Nothing profound. Nothing controversial, well maybe one thing, a sight gag but I won't get into that here.

This is an coming of age story that takes a familiar trail but the the twists and turns in the form of odd ball characters make this enjoyable ride full of strange treats.

TR Knight from Grey's Anatomy plays the lead, which by the look of him was shot before the TV. It's almost like his character George started here and grew into what it has become on the TV show. His death bed ridden father is played by Danny Aiello, who hams it up as an old time comic, who despite his failing health can't stop laughing at his own jokes. Mario Cantone is great as a want to be at one time actor, who runs an actors retirement home and take his job very seriously in a very funny way. The story is about a kid trying to please his father but in don't so he's really pleasing himself. And it seems like he was the last to know. Sabrina Loydd plays his love interest and they seem to fit better than the matches they made for him on Grey's anatomy. If you're looking for a movie to feel good about and laugh at without getting a bombarded by profanity and body functions jokes than this is your baby. Which is what the movie is really all about.

A friend told me to rent this film and as usual he was right. This was a very funny film sort of an updated early Woody Allen. The were some great visuals and funny, strange characters. The simplicity of the story, which surprisingly worked in conjunction with the wild humor.

The writer was very clever in that he must have written this to appeal to both old and young. The humor being wacky, the story about coming of age, yet much of it was set in an old age home. He was blending the twenty something TR Knight's struggle to grow up with the old peoples struggle just to hang on.

Danny Aiello was great playing the dying father, who's last request is for one of his sons to carry on the family name. Without telling you too much TR if forces to quit the seminary and take on the challenge. And a challenge is what he goes through. Using therapy he works past his detached mother to rise to that challenge. It's a very funny, simple movie with lots of laughs and some heart. Rent it.

Danny A. is no comic master and I should have learned that from "Hudson Hawk." No, in a flick like this he's more into yukking it up on his own end, and not the audience. Laughing all the way to the bank would be my guess.

I wasn't kidding, 15 minutes was all I could invest in this crap, and the only other movie I had left to watch was a foreign film that looked riskier. It wasn't, thus, a low-budget horror offering from New Zealand beats Danny A. and company. It wasn't even close.

Danny! Stick with mob movies with lots of blood. There's still time. Avoid comedy, Dan.

From the very beginning the film had me laughing and I knew I was in for a very unusual ride. Somehow the writer director managed to blend off beat with even more off beat with a some warmth, especially towards the end of the movie.

Tony Lo Bianco and Mario Cantone shared a scene in the church and they were more like a comedy team than two actors working together in a movie. The biggest name in the movie was Danny Aiello who was brilliant as the over the top dying pop. T.R. Knight was perfectly cast as the nerdy son who has to work through all of of his fears on a quest his dying dad wouldn't take no for an answer. He was also matched perfectly with Sabrina Loydd the girl he doesn't know is the one. It's a simple story but anymore and the outlandish jokes wouldn't have worked. This is charming, funny film that somehow is kind of sick at the same time. I loved it. I'm glad I rented it. I'll have to thank the friend who turned me on to this little gem.

This movie was different from the very first scene. Without giving away the gag, the phone TR Knight uses was hysterically blasphemous (I think that's how it's spelled). The Honey moon scene has me on the floor, it was viciously romantic which made it even funnier. It took me a while to realize that the old retired actor in the home, run by Mario Cantone, was Tony Lo Bianco. It was a great makeup job.

It seemed like the movie went from one funny scene to the next, each one getting crazier, none more crazy than the Jiffy Pop birth scene. It had an element of Mel Brook's Young Frankenstien and Woody Allen's inventiveness. Although the story was simple and I knew where it would probably end up I had no idea who it would get there. The casting was great. It was fun seeing Joe Piscopo play such a funny outrageous character without going over the top. There's so many funny scenes I find myself wanting to tell them but I don't want to ruin the fun for you. This is probably one of the more unusual romantic comedies I've seen. It has a sweet story that blends with almost airplane like jokes that fit. It's fun. Rent or buy it, you'll enjoy it.