Monday, July 31, 2017

The Hero (2017)

We loved this dreamy story of Lee, a burned out former cowboy actor with a pot habit and not much hope trying to make sense of his life. Sam Elliott (he was last blogged for Grandma and will be 73 in ten days) is wonderful as Lee. Strong support comes from Nick Offerman (most recently in The Founder), Laura Prepon (best known for 200 episodes of That 70s Show--I think I saw them all--and 56 of Orange Is the New Black), and Krysten Ritter (ten episodes of Breaking Bad and the title character of the series Jessica Jones, among other work). Katharine Ross (she's 77 and best known for The Graduate (1967) which earned her an Oscar nomination, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and The Stepford Wives (1975)) makes a cameo as Lee's ex-wife.

Director/co-writer Brett Haley and co-writer Marc Basch (last blogged for I'll See You in My Dreams, which also starred Elliott) keep it on the slow side but still active, sad but still delightful. One scene in a comedy club features several actual comics.

The lovely music by Keegan DeWitt (after I'll See You in My Dreams he scored Morris from America and ten episodes of Divorce) can be streamed on youtube (the playlist includes some dialogue clips that I've been skipping while writing).

The Hero played for a short time here three weeks ago and is expected to be released on DVD in mid-September. Its Rotten Tomatoes rating is 78% critics and 66 from audiences.

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