Just Getting Started
1.5/4
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Rene Russo, Joe Pantoliano, Jane Seymour
Rated PG-13 for Language, Suggestive Material and Brief Violence
"Just Getting Started" is one of the most inane, brain-dead comedies of the year. There were worse comedies to come out this year ("These Little Hours" comes to mind), but they actually inflamed me with passion. This stinker is simply dull. I wish I had fallen asleep.
Duke (Freeman) is a freewheeling charmer who runs a senior community in Arizona. He's the boss but acts like one of the residents. Which is to say, he gets drunk, sleeps around, and generally acts like he's on Spring Break for senior citizens. One day, Leo (Jones) comes to town and soon he's wooing the attention of the girls, especially Suzie (Russo), who is making sure that Duke is doing his job. Soon its a turf war between Duke and Leo, with Suzie as the prize. But there's something in Duke's past that neither Suzie or Leo are aware of, and his demons are coming back to haunt him.
Watching this movie, a question kept running through my head: who was this movie made for? I mean, who wants to watch a bunch of old people who are constantly drunk and randier than a character from a Judd Apatow movie? Not many, I guess, but I think Ron Shelton, the god of sports movies, is targeting older, more conservative viewers. That's fine, but he plays it so safe that the only way someone could possibly laugh in this movie is if they're stuck in a time warp where "I Love Lucy" is cutting edge.
I was also wondering what drew Freeman, Jones, and Russo to the script. These are three smart and talented actors, but anyone could, and should, have seen that this script could only be a disaster. My guess is that they didn't bother reading it because the money was too good to turn down. I get that actors need to eat, but really? They couldn't have made better use of their talents than appear in this crapfest? It's not like they're trying. Rene Russo is phoning it in, Tommy Lee Jones looks like he's there under the threat of death (he's constantly wearing a similar expression to Tom Skerrit in his cameo in "Ted"). Only Morgan Freeman is consistently successful as the charmer, but he's so talented that he would make an effort to be bad, as he apparently did in "Dreamcatcher."
Ron Shelton has made some good movies in the past, like "Tin Cup" and the intriguing misfire "Cobb." Maybe the reason Jones and Russo signed on is that they had good experiences in the past working with him. Regardless, lightning doesn't strike twice here. This movie is a complete bore. AndEven worse, it never wants to end. Rarely has 90 minutes ever seemed so long.
This is a movie that no one wanted to see and no one could make a quality movie out of. Just stay away from it!
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Rene Russo, Joe Pantoliano, Jane Seymour
Rated PG-13 for Language, Suggestive Material and Brief Violence
"Just Getting Started" is one of the most inane, brain-dead comedies of the year. There were worse comedies to come out this year ("These Little Hours" comes to mind), but they actually inflamed me with passion. This stinker is simply dull. I wish I had fallen asleep.
Duke (Freeman) is a freewheeling charmer who runs a senior community in Arizona. He's the boss but acts like one of the residents. Which is to say, he gets drunk, sleeps around, and generally acts like he's on Spring Break for senior citizens. One day, Leo (Jones) comes to town and soon he's wooing the attention of the girls, especially Suzie (Russo), who is making sure that Duke is doing his job. Soon its a turf war between Duke and Leo, with Suzie as the prize. But there's something in Duke's past that neither Suzie or Leo are aware of, and his demons are coming back to haunt him.
Watching this movie, a question kept running through my head: who was this movie made for? I mean, who wants to watch a bunch of old people who are constantly drunk and randier than a character from a Judd Apatow movie? Not many, I guess, but I think Ron Shelton, the god of sports movies, is targeting older, more conservative viewers. That's fine, but he plays it so safe that the only way someone could possibly laugh in this movie is if they're stuck in a time warp where "I Love Lucy" is cutting edge.
I was also wondering what drew Freeman, Jones, and Russo to the script. These are three smart and talented actors, but anyone could, and should, have seen that this script could only be a disaster. My guess is that they didn't bother reading it because the money was too good to turn down. I get that actors need to eat, but really? They couldn't have made better use of their talents than appear in this crapfest? It's not like they're trying. Rene Russo is phoning it in, Tommy Lee Jones looks like he's there under the threat of death (he's constantly wearing a similar expression to Tom Skerrit in his cameo in "Ted"). Only Morgan Freeman is consistently successful as the charmer, but he's so talented that he would make an effort to be bad, as he apparently did in "Dreamcatcher."
Ron Shelton has made some good movies in the past, like "Tin Cup" and the intriguing misfire "Cobb." Maybe the reason Jones and Russo signed on is that they had good experiences in the past working with him. Regardless, lightning doesn't strike twice here. This movie is a complete bore. AndEven worse, it never wants to end. Rarely has 90 minutes ever seemed so long.
This is a movie that no one wanted to see and no one could make a quality movie out of. Just stay away from it!
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