Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: The Last Movie Star
March 25, 2018
The Last Movie Star - Buy from Amazon: DVD and Blu-ray
The Last Movie Star is about an aging movie star, played by Burt Reynolds, who has to come to terms with their autumn years. This is far from a unique setup. However, just because a movie deals with subject matter we’ve seen before doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. Is it better than other recent examples of this film?
Burt Reynolds plays Vic Edwards, who was a big movie star in the 1970s. We are introduced to him in an archival interview at his peak before flash forwarding to the present day where Vic is at the vet learning his 15-year old dog is too sick to go on. When he gets home, he checks his mail and finds an invitation for the International Nashville Film Festival. They want to give him a Lifetime Achievement Award. At first, Vic ignores it. After all, Nashville is a country music town, not a movie town. However, his friend, Sonny, gets him to change his mind when he tells him it’s a prestigious film festival and shows him some of the previous winners.
Vic soon learns that Sonny was mistaken when it comes to the International Nashville Film Festival. It’s not a prestigious event, as is evident when his car arrives late. Instead of being a limo, or even a town car, it’s a beat up sedan driven by a surly Lil McDougal. They don’t get off on the right foot, to put it mildly. Nearly killing them both because she was texting her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend doesn’t help. His motel is a dump and he’s tempted to just leave right away, but he calls Sonny and Sonny convinces him to stay. In another indignity, the “Film Festival” is at a bar. It’s not even a trendy downtown bar, but an out of the way place. We meet the organizers, Doug, the head of this event; his partner, Shane; his girlfriend, Faith and a local filmmaker documenting the event, Stuart. They are all just kids, at least compared to who you would normally see running a film festival.
At this point, Vic is feeling pretty low and Lil storms into the bar after breaking up with her boyfriend. The pair start to get drunk together and Lil tells Vic that of all the actors picked for Lifetime Achievement Awards, Vic was the only one to respond. He was certainly the only one stupid enough to show up. As a result, Vic gets so drunk he misses the next event. Doug, Shane, and Stuart find him riding one of those horse kiddie rides outside the next door grocery store. The rest of the day is an embarrassment for Vic and all involved.
The next day, Vic tells Lil to drive him to the airport so he can fly home. On the way, he changes his mind and asks Lil to drive him to Knoxville instead. He says he has something to take care of. At this point, we are just getting into the heart of the movie, while we also get into spoilers. Without giving much away, Vic grew up in the area and wants to take a tour of his past.
Adam Rifkin wrote this movie for Burt Reynolds and he is clearly a huge fan of the actor and this shows through in the movie. That’s not to say is a hagiography, as Vic is portrayed as a jerk for most of the movie. It isn’t until he and Lil start talking and connecting with each other that Vic mellows out and the movie really gets an emotional center.
Granted, it isn’t 100% effective, as it can be a little maudlin at times, but that’s to be expected for this type of film. That said, I really liked the chemistry between Burt Reynolds and Ariel Winter. The use of Burt Reynolds’ old movies also really helps. They edited Burt Reyolds of today into some of his old movies like Smokey and the Bandit so he could speak to his younger self. It is a bit of a gimmick, but I think it worked for the most part.
There are three extras on the DVD / Blu-ray, starting with an audio commentary track with writer / director Adam Rifkin. There is also a 17-minute making of / behind-the-scenes featurette. Finally, there are 8 deleted scenes with a total running time of 13 minutes. That’s good for a limited release.
The Last Movie Star is better than the other similar film I recently reviewed. It might not have a singularly strong central performance, but the overall plot gave me more to care about and the relationships mattered more in this movie. The DVD and Blu-ray don’t have a ton of extras, but enough to lift it from a solid rental to a purchase.
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The Movie
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, The Last Movie Star, Burt Reynolds, Nikki Blonsky, Chevy Chase, Clark Duke, Adam Rifkin, Ariel Winter, Ellar Coltrane, Al-Jaleel Knox