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NEVER TOO LATE
Director: Mark Lamprell Cast: James Cromwell, Dennis Waterman, Jack Thompson, Roy Billing, Jacki Weaver, Zachary Wan, Shane Jacobson, Renee Lim MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:38 Release Date: 7/10/20 (limited; virtual cinema) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 9, 2020 Director Mark Lamprell and screenwriter Luke Preston try to keep things light in Never Too Late. One understands the instinct. If this story—about a quartet of Australian Vietnam veterans planning an escape from their retirement home—stuck too close to reality, it would likely be a most depressing affair. The point here, though, is comedy, but even with that goal in mind, a lot of this still feels too melancholy for laughs. The driving force of the plot has Jack Bronson (James Cromwell), a former member of a special forces team, trying to re-unite with Norma (Jacki Weaver). They met and fell in love during the war, but Jack's imprisonment in North Vietnam kept them apart. Now, Norma is showing troubling signs of dementia, and Jack wants to marry her before she forgets who he is. Yes, it's not particularly amusing, but the filmmakers certainly attempt to mine as much humor out of this as they can. Jack enlists his three former team members—Jeremiah (Dennis Waterman), Angus (Jack Thompson), and James (Roy Billing)—to break out of the residence where they all live. To get them to agree, Jack lies that the man who captured and tortured the team is living nearby, awaiting their revenge. It doesn't help that the jokes aren't that good. Angus is also having issues with his memory, so there's a lot joking about that fact (It's especially odd, considering how tragically the movie treats Norma). James is wheelchair-bound, and his buddies continuously forget to bring him along when they walk away. Jeremiah is the resident ladies' man, and he charms his way through distractions. They even make room for Elliot (Zachary Wan), the son of a nurse and a precocious kid who shows how out-of-touch the old guys are. There are some genuine moments about aging and regret to be found here, and while the actors dig into those scenes, they're also good sports about the cheap gags, too. That's a necessity for this material, because there are a lot of cheap gags here. They intrude upon and interrupt every one of the movie's potential moments of sincerity. Again, that approach is understandable under the circumstances and with the filmmakers' aims in mind, but Never Too Late undermines reality so often that the attempts at conveying authentic pain, longing, and sorrow start to feel schmaltzy. Copyright © 2020 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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