Strong and Moving!

Please don't spend money on this.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Nobody's Fool is a genuinely heart-warming film that features an excellent Paul Newman performance that stands out in a crowded field of them. The main theme is about reconnecting with family and movie shows that in the most pleasing way. I also liked how the movie is very funny. Paul Newman knows how to be funny, and that banter of his with Bruce Willis is one for the ages....as well as how he keeps trying to steal his snowblower. Robert Benton's film is about a man named Sully, who lives in a small town and is rapidly approaching retirement age. He lives with an elderly landlord, who has a son who is plotting plans on development of the town. When by chance, he runs into his estranged son and grandson, he begins to take on the responsible role of grandfather, but it may be harder than it looks....Paul Newman does an amazing job and this might be his best performance of his career. He is quite funny as the grouch, but he also manages add a caring, emotional side to himself. Bruce Willis does a fine job as Sully's employer, Carl whom both love to bicker at each other. Dylan Walsh does a good job as Sully's son. I wasn't sure if I could completely buy Melanie Griffith's performance, but I sure as heck loved Philip Seymour Hoffman's over-the-top performance as one of the town's cops. Overall, Nobody's Fool proves that Paul Newman is indeed not a fool by choosing great roles such as the one in this movie to star in. He is one of the greatest Hollywood actors, and I wish he was still alive and working today. Nonetheless, this is an endearing, heart-warming film about family and love. Not only is it moving, but it is also quite funny. A beautiful movie to watch!My Grade: A

This is a brief review of "Nobody's Fool" (1994) and "Twilight" (1998), two films by director Robert Benton, both starring Paul Newman.The better of both films, "Nobody's Fool" stars Newman as Donald Sullivan, an elderly man who lives in small-town America. Perpetually down on his luck, "Fool's" first act watches as Sullivan struggles to claim unpaid wages. For the next hour, things only get worse for Sully: he loses bets, loses money, almost loses his leg, is revealed to be estranged from his family and gets thrown into jail.The film's great joke, though, is that Sully is never sullen. Always giving as good as he gets, Sully repeatedly steals machinery from his boss, and flirts with his bosses wife (Melanie Griffith). As the film progresses, we the audience also begin to appreciate just how many people rely upon the "unlucky" Sully, how lucky they are to have him in their lives, and how upstanding a guy he is when compared to many others in his community.Which is not to say Sully is without flaws. Indeed, "Nobody's Fool's" climax features the usual "improvements" and "reconcilliations" typical of the genre. Sully learns to be a better man, a better father, and attempts to correct mistakes in others he once committed himself. This is all painfully routine. Where the film shines is in Newman's lovable performance, Benton's ceaselessly witty dialogue, and his willingness to sympathise with major and minor characters which lesser films typically villainize.Released four years later, "Twilight" again stars Newman. This time he plays Harry Ross, an ex-cop and one-time private detective. Like "Nobody's Fool", the film's first act watches as Newman damages his leg. Again like "Nobody's Fool", the film then begins to question the impotency and disloyalty of its lead character.Throughout "Twilight", Newman plays a now familiar archetype: the ageing private detective. He's an old timer, washed up, and mocked by all. To make matters worse, everyone believes that Ross lost his penis in a gunfight. Ross' presumed impotency is mirrored to the film's other ageing characters: a washed up actress (Susan Sarandon) in her twilight years, and a dying actor (Gene Hackman), both of whom are friends with Ross. The film's moral dilemma hinges around all three characters. Did Hackman and Sarandon collude to kill a man, is Ross helping them, and more importantly, will he cover-up a murder to protect a friend? To say anymore would be to spoil the fun."Twilight" is set in California, home of many great sun-bleached noirs. It's also home to Benton's earliest noir, "The Late Show", a 1977 feature which starred Art Carny as Ira Wells, an ageing private detective who, like Harry Ross, is accused of being long past his sell-by date. Both films allow their ageing heroes one final blaze of glory. Both films are also unable to transcend the conventions of their genre. "Twilight's" climax in particular is rife with clichés.8.5/10 - See "Cutter's Way" and "Flesh and Bone" (1993).

An aging blue-collar worker tries to bond with the adult son that he abandoned as a child. This low-key, small-town character study has its moments but it doesn't quite come together, mainly due to the shortcomings of the rambling script by director Benton. The interaction among the characters is not interesting enough to make up for the lack of a plot. Perhaps a little more humor and less sentimentality would have helped. Newman is always worth watching, but it's a little awkward watching his romantic overtures towards Griffith, more than 30 years his junior. Tandy turns in a fine farewell performance after a sixty-year career.

This film wouldn't be nearly as successful without the wondrous understated performance by Newman. He plays Sully, a small town man who has long since lost his family due to his drinking, and who never amounted to much in life, but still has a sharp sense of humor, life, sexuality, and even rage burning in himself at age 60. It's also a genial slice of small town life, related to Benton's 'Places in the Heart', but less treacly, and with a less Hollywood spin. The characters (a terrific supporting cast including Jessica Tandy, and both Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith doing some of the best work they've ever done) are off-beat, without it feeling like writer/director Benton was sweating hard to create 'quirky'. Nothing all that much happens in the film, yet people grow and change, just like in real life. Not quite a great film, but it still captures a sweet, almost Caprasque Americana, without becoming cloying. The movie, like Newman, never pushes hard, and that goes a long way.