Last Orders - R
Starring: Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone
Directed by: Fred Schepisi
Showing: Showplace East 11
"Last Orders" has the potential to break box office records -- at the retirement home. This is a movie for all the people who have been longing for a sequel to "Space Cowboys." Both movies are about old men dealing with old-age and death. "Last Orders'" cast is also similar to "Space Cowboys," which starred the aging actors Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner and Clint Eastwood. All of these actors were American classics. In "Last Orders," the cast is a classic, old aged British ensemble starring Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Tom Courtenay and David Hemmings. Both movies were pretty boring, except in one the old geezers took a trip to space, while the other took a trip to the coast.
"Last Orders" is about the death of Jack Dodds (Michael Caine). Jack had three best friends who he drank with for most of his life in the same pub. Upon his death, he requests his ashes to be scattered in the ocean. So his buddies and his son Vince (Ray Winstone) make the pilgrimage to the beach to toss him to the wind. Along this geriatric road trip, the men struggle internally to deal with their emotions caused by Jack's death.
This British nursing home acting ensemble is led by Caine and Hoskins, but the entire group turns in a good performance. The men in "Last Orders" are more "actors" then the cast of "Space Cowboys," who are good actors too, but are really "stars" more than anything else.
The story is told through about a million flashbacks. Flashbacks have flashbacks, and even the flashbacks of the flashbacks have flashbacks. The story is kind of confusing not because the viewer is lost, but the movie has no clue what it's main goal really is.
Through the millions of flashbacks, "Last Orders" tries to deal with and solve about a thousand problems the men had surrounding themselves and Jack. The movie starts with Jack's mentally handicapped daughter he disowns, then we find out his son didn't join the family business, his wife cheated on him with his best friend, his son really isn't his son, the best friend's wife left him because their daughter moved to Australia and the best friend still loves Jack's wife. This is only the tip of the iceberg in a movie that tries to accomplish way too much.
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