A flying saucer lands in the backyard of an elderly suburbanite with memory problems, who forms a bond with the scared alien inside.
- Released:
- Runtime: 90 minutes
- Genre: Comedy
- Stars: Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Jane Curtin, Zoe Winters, Donald Paul, Anna George, Lee Sellars, Teddy Cañez, Eric T. Miller, Cody Kostro, Jeff Kim, Jade Quon, Patrick Noonan, David Carl, Laura Jordan, Blair Baker, Christopher Kelly
- Director: Marc Turtletaub
Comments
- A_Different_Drummer - 13 May 2024
charming, fluffy, harmless
Kingsley is one of those actors who has never given a bad performance, and his awards speak for themselves. The critical flaw in this film is that it starts better than it ends. The dynamic of growing old in a small town and, once a week, going to council to voice your (repetitive) complaints .... clever. But it promised more than it delivered. Any chance that the writers were venturing beyond allegory disappared with the "cat" twist, which, ironically, was not needed for continuity at all. The rest of the cast is competent, only Zoe Winters stands out. She steals all her scenes by being the daughter many fathers wished they'd had. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present)) - redinnevada - 29 January 2024
Cute
As a senior citizen myself, it was great to see so many aged actors in one place as the center of a movie. Ala Cocoon, this one is heartwarming and hopeful for us of a certain generation.
Enjoyable movie, liked the idea of some random citizen being 1st contact and deciding to keep it a secret because in these "disclosure" days, don't we ALL know that to report it means they'll swoop in, take it and literally (probably) tear it apart to reverse engineer it? Apparently even us old folks know this, so that was pleasing to see.
It was also interesting to see the portrayal of how an aged persons deteriorating mental state (aka dementia) could have an impact on younger folks taking older folks seriously. I mean, we know this will be true when it happens to us, it's just kinda depressing. Only other old folks will take us seriously, seems to be the message there. Not sure that's NOT accurate (depressing in itself).
Where it lost me was the final scenes. All that build-up, all that slow road to nowhere's-ville. Granted, probably how it'd really happen, no publicity, no parades, no accolades for being the one to save an alien being, etc.
But this is a movie. We GET to play with how we WANT something to end. And those final scenes where they not only didn't get to go with the alien (unexplained, after he offered them to go aboard) but why getting dropped off in a very inhospitable location on earth itself? WTH? That is NOT understandable, not satisfying.
So, yah, watch it...but maybe turn it off when they're running out to watch the alien escape the calvary coming to get him. Just pretend it ends on a better note. Because the last 3 mins will leave you deflated. =/ - edwardwesterfield - 27 December 2023
A parable of aging
I stumbled across Jules surfing channels, and never left. It's not dramatic and things don't blow up, no car chases. But the story is supremely beguiling, a gentle story of connection with a man dealing with the onset of dementia, his connection with a new mute acquaintance Jules, the man's two female friends and their combined quest to befriend Jules and help him on his way back to whence he came. Like a whiskey drink with a drop of bitters, it was tinged with the fear that the alien will be found out and taken away by the "government". Not scary at all but humorous.
I need to watch the movie again, because it is layered with subtle nuance, dealing with life, death, loneliness, and what happens once we leave this world.
Crack open a bottle of wine to share with someone and enjoy the journey that the s Jules.
