Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.
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... View MoreBlending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
... View MoreVery good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
... View MoreFor the Mitch Albom's fans it is perfect gift. The pieces of novel are present in the correct order. The feeling is same-delicate, nostalgic and warm.Michael Imperioli is the good choice. Eleen Burstyn is the perfect provocation. And the movie is the skin of last reading. Only problem, same in that cases, is the expectation. Is it only a adaptation? Is it another soup for soul? It is a madlene for deep fillings and start for different relation with parents? Is it a beautiful story about a son and his mother and picture of usually motivational literature? Is it occasion to discover another Imperioli, behind the crumbs of Soprano? Is it only a movie for rainy afternoon? No, I suppose. It is invitation to define the relation with past. Personal past. And a lesson about the delicate form to create air of a story. For people of spectacular and fake appearances.
... View MoreDepressing and utterly revolting film about an alcoholic former baseball player who is allowed to spend one more day with his mother. She has been dead for 9 years and he has put a gun to his head to end it all. The problem is the writing is very bad and someone should have put an end to that quickly.Ellen Burstyn is great particularly when she has a nasty, meaty role. Unfortunately, in this film, she is too matter by the fact, going by the book mom. It just doesn't work for her. Imperioli delivers a suitable performance and his appearance as an alcoholic best describes the mess in the film.People come and go in this film like water. One black woman appears as a ghost. Another will die that evening. To add insult to injury, Imperioli's father was thrown out years before by Burstyn when she discovered that he had committed bigamy! That's all that's missing in this clinker.This is a story of missed opportunities and incredibly bad luck. Oprah Winfrey should have her head examined for producing such a depressing, uneven story. Even the flashback techniques in film making doesn't work here. It's too much and even confusing at times.A major disappointment. I anticipated so much better.
... View MoreA richly-detailed screenplay and superb performances by the stars are the main selling points of FOR ONE MORE DAY, an exquisite and deeply moving TV fantasy about a desperate and lonely drunk named Chick Benetto,who, at the moment he is about to commit suicide, encounters the ghost of his mother, who has been dead for nine years. Still racked with guilt about not being there when his mother died, this man is given the opportunity to spend one final day with his loving mother. The intricate screenplay effectively shows the specific events in Chick's life that have led him to his suicide attempt and then flashes back and forth through various parts of his life from early childhood to his blossoming career as a professional baseball player to illustrate the downward spiral his life took, apparently affected by the separation of his parents. His mother is portrayed as a luminous free spirit whose exuberance for life was constantly being crushed by her chauvinistic Neanderthal husband who felt she was making Chick soft. The screenplay allows us to see Chick at various highs and lows during his life and allows Chick the opportunity to ask his mother all those things about his parents'separation that he never got the opportunity to ask. Emmy winner Michael Imperioli (THE SOPRANOS)delivers a powerful and delicately layered performance as the tortured Chick and Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn is luminous, as always, as the ghostly mom who materializes when her son needs her the most. OK, there were little problems I had with logic and continuity such as Mom's abilities to tend to Chick's wounds even though she is a ghost and that Imperioli is a little too young to appear to have done all the things Chick is supposed to have done, but I allowed this lovely story to envelop me in the emotions it evoked and forgive the inconsistencies. This movie should be shown annually on Mother's Day to remind us all how special our mothers are. But above all it is the sublime performances of Burstyn and Imperioli that make this such a rewarding film experience and I hope they are both remembered at Emmy time.
... View MoreNo doubt the author Mitch Albon wanted to say Something Important about Real People; unfortunately the author has never met any Real People and has no real life experiences at all to utilize in creating this muddle of cardboard characters and phony-baloney situations. The paramount fault with this movie is Bad Writing 101.Please don't get me wrong. I LIKE sentimental movies about real people, films that reflect solid American values. The problem is this film offers no such thing.The reason we watched was to see Michael Imperioli and his real life son in a movie post-Sopranos. Both deliver fine jobs considering the handicap inherent in the script.The story is about an alcoholic whose life is deteriorating at a rapid pace. The recommended solution (by the author) is to buy another 6 pack and drive fast & careless down the highway taking things out on the next truck driver -- an easy target -- ending up smashed into a ravine where your dead mother will come along and set you straight. Many flashbacks will take us through his utterly phony life, including his play in the World Series (gosh!), how he failed his phony father as well as his phony daughter.Excuse me, I can't go on; but I think you catch my drift.
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