As in Cocoon(1985), the emphasis is on sentiment, feel-good and reclaiming the elderly from the scrapheap. But the performances are nowhere near as subtle.
Comment
11/24/07
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Man in the Chair (2007)
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Reviews Counted:32
Fresh:16
Rotten:16
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: A committed performance from Christopher Plummer can't save Man in the Chair's troubled and cliched script.
Theatrical Release:Dec 7, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: MAN IN THE CHAIR stars Christopher Plummer (A BEAUTIFUL MIND, THE SOUND OF MUSIC) as weathered curmudgeon Flash Madden. The former film gaffer is embittered about Hollywood's current regime that... [More]
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Michael Angarano, M. Emmet Walsh, Robert Wagner
Director: Michael Schroeder
Reviews for Man in the Chair
[An] elegant documentary.
12/14/07
Though they can't transcend writer-director Michael Schroeder's pointed contrivances, the actors tap into something achingly true in this valentine to Hollywood's below-the-line crafts people and society's castoffs.
12/14/07
This genuinely moving picture, with its edgy hand-cranked camerawork, represents a remarkable reinvention for a former B-movie maven whose most notable achievement before this was directing an 18-year-old Angelina Jolie in Cyborg 2.
12/07/07
Schroeder's heart is in the right place, but his cinematic taste is unfortunately elsewhere.
12/10/07
For its first 45 minutes or so, and intermittently thereafter, Michael Schroeder's Man in the Chair feels, annoyingly, like a film school project.
12/07/07
A modest budgeted comedy-drama about learning life lessons that is sentimentally written and directed by Michael Schroeder.
12/07/07
A fair-to-middling contemporary fantasy drama that, despite its surfeit of flashy effects, is mildly charming in the way it addresses the injustice of old folk having to live out their final years in decrepit homes.
01/24/08
A neorealist drama passed through a J-Horror filter.
12/02/07
A film that probably never wouldn't have seen the light of a projector if it wasn't for some kind of "Let's get Actor X that long-deserved Oscar" grab.
12/12/07
[Director] Schroeder peppers scenes with snippets of classic films, and there's no doubting his deep love of cinema. But the honest truth is that no matter how generous your audience, it's never a good idea to remind us of other, better movies.
12/07/07
If you have to see this film for one reason, see it for Plummer...
12/11/07
Too slight and formulaic to amount to much.
01/22/08
The old and the young really do have something to say to each other as pictures like this one (along with 'The Water Horse') tell us with so enjoyably.
12/01/07
This attempt to make a film is about a guy who is attempting to make a film.
01/22/08
With its flashy, music-video style edits, rock-scored montages and septuagenarian cast, it’s hard to say who, exactly, is the right audience for this unusual comedic drama from director Michael Schroeder.
12/07/07
It's a cute idea that a better filmmaker than writer-director Michael Schroeder could have done a lot with.
12/07/07
Top CriticAmbitious, heartfelt but, Plummer's excellent performance aside, dramatically lightweight and unconvincing.
01/24/08
Surprisingly moving proof that you can take a man out of the movies, but you can't take the movies out of the man.
12/06/07
Watchable drama with a strong performance from Christopher Plummer, though the script often feels simplistic and can't quite manage the emotional punch the story deserves.
01/24/08
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