When I was a teenager, I watched the movie Best Seller (James Woods as a hitman wanting to write a book, and Brian Dennehy as an ex-cop and author). I thought it was okay, but could have been better (I was a critic even back then).
Seeing the premise and cast of this movie got me excited. Michael Caine (now 88-years-old) playing a legendary author now a recluse -- reminded me of how much I enjoyed his Harry Brown a decade ago. And I had hoped it might be a lot like my favorite movie of 2019 -- The Burnt Orange Heresy (Donald Sutherland playing a reclusive artist).
I also liked seeing that some of the supporting cast were from movies I love. There was Ellen Wong, who played Knives Chau in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. And another actor good with knives (or swords, anyway) -- Cary Elwes from The Princess Bride. I was a little less thrilled that the main character is played by Aubrey Plaza. I’ve just seen so much of her in the last five years, the snarky comments and eye-rolling, have gotten old (and as my wife pointed out, an actress like Anne Hathaway would have been so much better in the role, playing the “silver spoon” daughter of a man who owned a publishing company).
Lucy Stanbridge’s (Plaza) publishing house isn’t doing so well. Her young adult novels haven’t been selling well, bills are piling up, and her best bet is to sell the company to Jack Sinclair (Scott Speedman). In one last brainstorm with her assistant (Wong), she wants a new voice, or in the case of Harris Shaw (Caine), a legendary author who might write one more classic. His first novel Atomic Autumn is what put the publishing house on the map. Of course, when she visits him, he pulls a gun on her. You see, he’s an angry alcoholic that wants nothing to do with anybody. Any guesses where the story is going to go? Yeah, if you’ve seen any movie in the last 40 years, your guess is probably correct.
Watching a Salinger/Hemingway type of writer who smokes stogies and now has to promote his latest novel -- seems like it should be in my wheelhouse. It reminded me of the underrated movie The End of the Tour, where Jason Segel plays writer David Foster Wallace.
This is where the problems for me really started to pile up. I just didn’t buy anything happening. Lucy wouldn’t have put up with his craziness. Or that with such big turnouts of people, who want to see him go crazy and curse at the crowd or urinate on his book (which goes viral), that they wouldn’t also buy the book while there. My friend once tried talking me into going to a book signing for Hunter S. Thompson in L.A. He told me it was crazy. Thompson drank half the bottle of booze my friend brought him, started jumping on the table, screaming crazy things, and...he had to be carried out. And, people there still bought his new book.
Of all the various scenes with Lucy and Shaw at book signings, only one where a young man asks if they’re selling T-shirts (as if it’s a singer you’re seeing in concert), was the least bit amusing.
First-time director Lina Roessler has a number of missteps (too much film score in the first half, not tightening up a script where Cain gets a bit too nuts). I think about how Tom Hanks said in an interview that how they got Jackie Gleason to play his father in Nothing in Common (his last movie), was by saying to him, “Do you want the goofy cop from Smokey and the Bandit III to be your last role?”
Perhaps Caine was persuaded by the idea of playing a character that isn’t just a mentor with a few scenes in films like Tenet, Now You See Me, and Kingsman.
Roessler should have worked with Anthony Grieco for a stronger script, with less predictability.
When Elwes showed up as a snooty book critic, who seemed to be channeling Truman Capote, it was a bit of fun.
There’s another amusing scene where Lucy tells Shaw “I don’t know how, but you already have 20,000 followers.”
He responds, “Jesus had a lot of followers. It didn’t end so well for him.”
The movie needed more moments like that. Yelling at drive-thru speakers to place a food order, or having an angry man yelling for another bottle of booze -- isn’t my idea of humor.
It was nice that Plaza underplays the part and plays it straight most of the time. And even if you see the end coming, it does move you. And hey -- I was disappointed with Respect, but said that there’s nothing wrong with seeing two hours of Jennifer Hudson singing. For this...it’s not so horrible watching two hours of Michael Caine on screen.
It’s just disappointing that it wasn’t better.
1 ½ stars out of 5.