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Final (2001)
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Reviews Counted:38
Fresh:16
Rotten:22
Average Rating:4.9/10
Theatrical Release:Dec 7, 2001 Limited
Synopsis: A solemn, quietly upsetting story about a man suffering from amnesia and paranoia who suspects he is part of a scientific government experiment in an apocalyptic near future, FINAL is a sad and... A solemn, quietly upsetting story about a man suffering from amnesia and paranoia who suspects he is part of a scientific government experiment in an apocalyptic near future, FINAL is a sad and moving unsolvable puzzle. Bill (Denis Leary) wakes up in a small room with a mind full of partial memories and a body suffering deteriorated motor skills. He gazes out the locked window at the Connecticut fall leaves, imagining that he sees his girlfriend, Sherry (Marin Hinkle) on the grass. Then she disappears, a mere illusion. A pretty nurse, Ann (Hope Davis), enters the high-security room, replacing Sherry's lost image, and begins psychological counseling, trying to help Bill remember what happened to him. But he is convinced that he knows what really happened--that he was in an accident, he was frozen in a cryogenic experiment, and now he is waiting to receive a final injection and be put to death. Though Ann listens to Bill and studies him as he jokes and shares memories about his mother, his father, and Sherry, his delusions make him nearly incapable of logical conversation. With a soulful blues-infused musical score, Leary and Davis deliver emotional, poetic performances, buttering up the audience for the revelatory final twist. [More]
Starring: Denis Leary, Hope Davis, J.C. MacKenzie, Jim Gaffigan
Starring: Denis Leary, Hope Davis, J.C. MacKenzie, Jim Gaffigan, Jim Hornyak, Maureen Anderman, Marin Hinkle, Madison Arnold, Caroline Kava
Director: Campbell Scott
Director: Campbell Scott
Screenwriter: Bruce McIntosh
Producer: Gary Winick, Alexis Alexanian, Mary Frances Budig, Steve Dunn, Campbell Scott
Studio: Cowboy Pictures
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Reviews for Final
The budget here was clearly miniscule, but others with less experience have certainly done more with less.
Comes off as a shoddily assembled, somewhat padded story that resembles a more buttoned-down Twelve Monkeys in its better moments and a high school video project in its worse ones.
Though Scott co-directed two other films (Big Night with Stanley Tucci and Hamlet with Eric Simonson), his solo effort feels like the debut of an amateur.
...this semi-interesting premise has been stretched incredibly thin over the course of close to two hours...
Basically it's cable-ready, and it shouldn't be long in getting there.
Its fundamental stumbling block [is] ... a story that splits at the seams with plot holes and bloat.
Scott handles this enigmatic science fiction mystery with such gloomy restraint that it barely moves.
Final's redundant, stiff, colorless meetings between Bill and Ann are staged at such a leisurely pace that we're waiting for someone to shut them up and provide some real tension.
While the idea behind "Final" is a good one, eighty minutes of tedium is too much to ask for its revelation.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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