The Last Word

The start of the movie is very touching. Baby, childhood, youth, and adult pictures of Shirley MacLaine are displayed over the opening credits, similar to a tribute to her at the Oscars after she's passed away (which we all hope will be many, many years in the future). Next, we are introduced to Shirley's character, an 81-year-old retired businesswoman who insists on having control over every aspect of her life. She trims her own hedges and improves dinner while her chef is cooking, but at the end of the day, she's enormously unhappy. She attempts suicide, but when she is revived, she has a sudden worry: she hasn't planned out her obituary yet! Amanda Seyfried is the writer hired by Shirley to write her obituary before her death. Normally, a young female journalist character in a movie is written out to be utterly unlikable and ruins whatever scene she's in. I feared the same during The Last Word, however, as the movie progressed, she didn't wind up nearly as unlikable as I'd thought. And, given the choice of other actresses who could have been cast in the role (Emma Stone, Anna Kendrick, etc), I was very happy with Amanda's rendition of the character. If you're a Shirley MacLaine movie, this is a must-see, especially since she's still alive. I can imagine watching this movie after she's passed away would be very sad. Instead, it's inspiring. Shirley is at first motivated to change her life because she wants a better obituary, but along the way, she starts enjoying life in its own right, and it's beautiful. The Last Word has the freedom of a "bucket list" type of movie, but with the motivation of enjoying life, not fearing death.

SUCH a wonderful movie, it's pretty inspiring and you're definitely going to cry (some tears will be happy). Couldn't picture 3 more perfect people to represent the leading ladies. It's hard to explain to other people why they should watch a movie and feel the things that you feel while watching it. But I kind of think that's a lesson from this movie. Feel however you want, do what you want, but "make it matter".

An elderly business woman hires a young newspaper woman to write her obituary on her terms. Her forthright personality has left her with few friends in life and poor family relations, she is forced to change her ways belatedly to try and leave a better legacy. Firstly, it does have to be admitted that this film is extremely predictable and it's not very difficult more or less working out the plot-line from the word go. As far as the story goes, there aren't any surprises to be found here it has to be said. But, despite this over-familiarity, the film still works and that is a testament to the acting, primarily from Shirley MacLaine who puts in a strong, spiky performance which I would not be at all surprised if it garnered an Oscar nomination next year. She is loads of fun to watch and is supported well by Amanda Seyfried as the young journalist and AnneJewel Lee Dixon as the little kid she takes a shine to. It's essentially a comedy-drama and mixes the dramatics with the humour pretty well. It also has to be said that it isn't so common to have a movie focus on the latter years of the elderly, which it has to be commended for doing. So, there is that more unusual angle interwoven into the otherwise highly standard plot structure. Essentially, over familiarity aside, this is a very entertaining movie which has a great Shirley MacLaine performance topping it off.

I should honestly be impressed that The Last Word gets away with as much as it does. It starts as one of those stereotypical light-weight puff pieces. The kind that gears itself toward the fussy, all-knowing, film festival crowd, then hits them over the head with the same mindlessness they claim to avoid by not watching mainstream films. The irony of course is they're never made aware that they're watching strategically released pabulum because they're "too smart and refined" (and white) to subject themselves to the latest common blockbuster. The Last Word is basically the cinematic equivalent of "The Emperor's New Clothes," for old people. The Last Word stars aged Hollywood icon Shirley MacLaine who basically takes the hindsight throne that was previously sat on by Meryl Streep in Ricki and the Flash (2015) and Al Pacino in Danny Collins (2015). She plays, of course a mortality aware loner who decides she wants to change her life with the help of a permanently brought-aback obituary writer (Seyfried) and later on, a sassy little black girl (Lee Dixon) whose tokenism would be offensive if it wasn't so carelessly stilted. Within the course of a month, Harriet Lalor (MacLaine) decides to reconstruct her legacy in the following order of importance: touch someone's life unexpectedly, find that certain something extra, be respected by her community and be beloved by friends and family. What immediately elevates Last Word from other pedestrian feel-good movies like this, is the inclusion of Shirley MacLaine. With over fifty years of experience playing acid-dipped battle-axes, MacLaine easily transcends the film's paltry story and annoyingly analog aesthetics. She does so well playing the quintessential shrew that every other one-note character fades into the background like a white wall against a bright tapestry. Of course, if sassy repartee alone was enough to elevate a bomb I'd be working for a publication by now. Literally everything else in this film suffers from clumsily sets up reveals and embarrassingly artificial sentiment. We see it all coming yet no effort is made to keep the script itself engaging or the least bit deserving of such an off-the-wall character. Why is Lalor hated by her family, why was she ejected by the advertising agency she started, why does literally everyone she meets want to kill her? The answers to all these questions will likely give OCD sufferers reason to get off their meds while giving babyboomers license to continue being s***ty people. What saves The Last Word from ultimately being beyond redemption is the very clear inference that the movie is a fantasy. It's a very treacly fantasy and one that would needle audiences outside its demographic into a permanent eye-twitch. Yet for those who just can't fathom why young whippersnappers like me can't just point to a place on a map and go, The Last Word is just what the doctor ordered. Consider it the last movie you'll see before euthanasia.