The Leisure Seeker * (2017 Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland, Christian McKay, Janel Moloney) –

Mirren and Sutherland give impeccable performances as troubled oldsters in this quirky bitter-sweet comedy road drama in which they set of in their vintage camper van The Leisure Seeker for one last ride.

International treasures Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland give impeccable performances as troubled oldsters in Italian director Paolo Virz’s quirky bitter-sweet 2017 comedy road drama The Leisure Seeker, in which they set off in their vintage camper van, a 1975 Winnebago, called The Leisure Seeker, for one last ride into the sunset. The leave their home in Boston to travel to the Ernest Hemingway Home in Florida’s Key West.

It is always good and special to spend time with Mirren and Sutherland, and they act boldly and bravely, showing every wrinkle and age spot. But the problem here is that the comedy starts getting untruthful, and also, surprisingly, though probably unintentionally, a shade oppressive about old people, non Bostonians and gay people, and the drama, once it finally kicks in is truly boring and depressing.

The film’s first half is welcome enough, though, but the second half is on the road to nowhere. It doesn’t help that Mirren’s character isn’t nearly as loveable as the film-makers seem to think she is. Her winning ways mainly conceal that she is an unpleasant, manipulative old bat.

The film is virtually a two-hander, but Christian McKay and Janel Moloney are quite bad as the grown-up children of the two main characters, though, to be fair, the writing of these characters and their dialogue is very poor. Next in the cast Dana Ivey as neighbour Lillian and Dick Gregory as OAP Dan Coleman have very little to do so you hardly notice them.

The iffy screenplay is based on the 2009 novel by Michael Zadoorian. Please remind me not to read it. Virzì is making his first full English language film, and at least he brings that quirky foreigner’s eye on the American scene that can give a movie a fresh veneer. The film looks quite good and smart, and many may find it worth seeing for the star performances.

[Spoiler alert] The film tackles several major, mostly taboo subjects – dementia, old age, the elderly, Alzheimer’s, cancer, coping with incurable illness, end-of-life issues, troubled family dynamics, dying with dignity, personal choice, euthanasia and suicide – but in the most superficial way. It doesn’t really tackle them at all. They are just there awkwardly on screen, some of them in a comedic way for heaven’s sake. I’m sure it means well, but this is not the right forum for these issues.

Mirren (doing a South Carolina accent?) swung a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and The Leisure Seeker was nominated as Best Film at the Venice Film Festival in 2017.

The screenplay is by Stephen Amidon, Francesca Archibugi, Francesco Piccolo and Paolo Virzì, based on the novel by Michael Zadoorian. In the book, apparently, the couple travel from Denver to Disneyland.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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