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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.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for language and thematic elements
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Dramas
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... 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 perpetuates a throwaway society by neglecting and forgetting the crews and creators that helped crank out some of the most significant films in cinematic history. He catches the attention of high school delinquent Cameron (Michael Angarano, WILL & GRACE), who tries to convince Flash to mentor him in a filmmaking competition--the only thing that motivates Cameron to stay out of trouble. Impressed by Cameron's persistence, Flash obliges and recruits his fellow crew member friends who live with him at the Motion Picture retirement home to help out as well, celebrating their production specialties that have been dormant for decades. While filming, the crew hits their share of ups and downs, but they become invigorated by their work. Cameron and Flash develop an intense bond and understanding for each other's position in life, as they see the value of both youth and wisdom. The recipient of several film festival awards, MAN IN THE CHAIR is a unique feel-good film, intent on inspiring without glossing over the sadness and struggles of the characters. Although Plummer and Angarano are the clear leads, heart-wrenching supporting performances by character actors M. Emmet Walsh (CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS, MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING) as down-and-out screenwriter Mickey, and Margaret Blye (LAST GOODBYE) as a frisky aging starlet add just the right amount of seriousness and insight the film needs to get its poignant message across. [More]
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Michael Angarano, M. Emmet Walsh, Robert Wagner
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Michael Angarano, M. Emmet Walsh, Robert Wagner, Tracey Walter, Joshua Boyd, Mimi Kennedy, Mitch Pileggi, Taber Schroeder
Director: Michael Schroeder
Director: Michael Schroeder
Screenwriter: Michael Schroeder
Producer: Michael Schroeder, Randy Turrow, Sarah Schroeder
Composer: Laura Karpman
Studio: Outsider Pictures
Reviews for Man in the Chair
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.
Schroeder's heart is in the right place, but his cinematic taste is unfortunately elsewhere.
For its first 45 minutes or so, and intermittently thereafter, Michael Schroeder's Man in the Chair feels, annoyingly, like a film school project.
A modest budgeted comedy-drama about learning life lessons that is sentimentally written and directed by Michael Schroeder.
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.
[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.
This attempt to make a film is about a guy who is attempting to make a film.
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.
It's a cute idea that a better filmmaker than writer-director Michael Schroeder could have done a lot with.
Writer-director Michael Schroeder compulsively references canonical films and books, presumably in the hope that genius rubs off.
The movie works so hard at juggling its clichés that it fails to generate interest in its story.
Overdirected and underwritten, this litany of Hallmark Channel tropes and button-pushing sentiment uses Tinseltown treacle to gussy up an otherwise forgettable message movie about humane treatment for the elderly.
By the end it's lost any edge and is as soft and unappealing as a geriatric incontinence pad.
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.
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