Jack and I liked very much this terrific story of an octogenarian control freak who decides she must approve her obituary while she's alive, and, after proof that pretty much no one likes her, makes an effort to make her obit more interesting (not necessarily to win friends). Shirley MacLaine (last blogged for Bernie) is wonderful as the prickly Harriet, with the body language of someone who clearly doesn't like the word no. She's ably supported by Amanda Seyfried (most recently in these pages for While We're Young) as the millennial obit writer Anne. My favorite line from the trailer is when Anne's boss, played by Tom Everett Scott (last in Parental Guidance) calls her to his office to meet Harriet. She says, "Am I being fired?" and he replies, "You should be so lucky." Young AnnJewel Lee Dixon makes a promising debut as 9 year old Brenda.
We also liked the character of the radio station manager Robin, played by Thomas Sadoski (after writing about him in Wild, we enjoy him and everyone in the series Life in Pieces). Philip Baker Hall (last blogged for 50/50) and Anne Heche (profiled in Cedar Rapids) each have good scenes, too. Shot in various places in the greater Los Angeles area, its setting is the fictitious Bristol CA.
Director Mark Pellington (I saw the thriller Arlington Road (1999) but none of his others) does a good job working from the first produced script by Stuart Ross Fink.
You probably will not remember the musical compositions by Nathan Matthew David, who has scored dozens of projects that I missed, but you can listen to a sample on his website. What will stay with you are the songs played at the radio station, many of which are listed and can be sampled here.
The critics have not been kind to this, averaging 34% and audiences 59 on Rotten Tomatoes. We disagree. Go see it.
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