In The Last Movie Star, an aged action movie star (Burt Reynolds playing someone very similar to Burt Reynolds) examines his life choices. It’s very funny and sentimental (in a good way).
Burt plays a thinly disguised version of himself – a retired movie star named Vic Edwards, who had played halfback at Tennessee instead of Burt’s Florida State. The movie opens with opens with a clip of the 70s Burt from the Smokey and the Bandit era. But then there’s a stark cut to Burt today, looking every one of his eighty-two years. Vic is in a depressing veterinary waiting room, about to get bad news about his pet. We see that Vic lives a lonely existence, padding about his Beverly Hills home devoid of human recognition or contact.
Vic finds himself invited to be honored at a Nashville film festival. Flattered and excited, he flies off to find that, instead of a ego-boosting tribute, the festival unleashes one indignity after another. Humiliated and enraged, he goes on a rogue road trip to his hometown of Knoxville, where he gets the chance to reflect on his life and make an important amend.
His road trip partner is his film festival driver, a nightmare of Millennial self-absorption, drama and bad attitude played by Ariel Winter (Alex Dunphy in Modern Family). Winters’ character adds an Odd Couple thread to the comedy, and Winter brings down the house with a monologue on her history with psychotropic medication.
Director Adam Rifkin cleverly inserts the 82-year-old Burt into his own movies to interact with the 36-year-old Burt. We see Burt as one of the greatest guests ever on Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. And we see him in Deliverance, brandishing a bow-and-arrow and clad in a sleeveless neoprene vest – there has never been a more studly image in the history of cinema.
The key to Burt Reynolds’ appeal is that unique combination of virility, and charm, his stunning physicality leavened by his not taking himself too seriously. I’m ridiculously handsome, and isn’t that just ridiculous?
If you’re going to be sentimental, then be unashamedly sentimental. Rifkin takes this to heart, which makes The Last Movie Star so emotionally satisfying as well as so damn funny.
I saw The Last Movie Star at Cinequest, where it was warmly received by the festival audience. The Last Movie Star was released theatrically for about a minute-and-a-half (and on only ONE screen in the Bay Area). Fortunately, now you can stream it on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.