Last Weekend (2014) Reviews

• Unsympathetic people doing uninteresting things

  steven-leibson2014-08-17

  I apologize for this review but this movie left me flat. "Last Weekend" is about a Labor Day weekend with a rich family at their Tahoe summer home. There's mom, dad, two grown sons, their significant others, and perhaps three more house guests thrown in. They're all staying in the fabulous family home on the shore of pristine Lake Tahoe. The movie's a slice of life from this wealthy family's songbook. Like most families, there's a familial core slathered with dysfunction. There are always things that family members don't like about their parents and siblings. I just had a hard time finding a single sympathetic character in the entire ensemble, which is a shame because this is a cast of very capable actors. I just didn't find the story to be up to their abilities. If you want to know whether rich people have the same problems as everyone else, this movie's answer is "no." They show little appreciation for the spectacular lake, the surroundings, each other, or the impressive summer home. I couldn't find anything to engage my interest or my sympathy. This movie reduced me to simple observer. At the end of the film, I don't think any of the characters were significantly changed. Perhaps that's what happens in real life, but it's not what I look for in a movie. We saw this movie through the San Jose Camera Cinema Club. It was the last film of the club's 2013/2014 season. We look forward to the next one.

• Irritating into Oblivion

  tracieg-95-3955782014-10-04

  Drab, boring, pointless, and ever so long (and it's only 93 minutes). Did they not give Patricia Richardson a script before the shoot? This is a movie about a family and some friends gathering together over a holiday weekend at the family "cabin" in Lake Tahoe. There seems, however, to be no plot--or if there is one, it is disjointed, lumbering, and completely inane. Dialogue doesn't appear to be prepared in advance and is s...l...o...w. Character interactions have no focus. There are no cohesive conversations -- every word begets conflict. If they are trying to irritate us into oblivion, then this movie is a success. Otherwise, it is anything but.

• Lose the kids, keep the house...

  RMinSF2014-09-22

  A family of spoiled narcissists spend a long weekend at their fabulous Lake Tahoe home(s). The children are, for the most part, unreflective, unaccomplished and unkind. Self-absorption incarnate. Add assorted wives, boyfriends and hangers-on. Mom (the always glorious Patricia Clarkson) has the most unbelievable character trajectory from uptight, cold control-freak to, well, the opposite of that. Dad pretty much looks angry and disappointed all the time (with some good reason, if you ask me) until he, too, experiences a miraculous transformation at the very, very end where he is kind and gentle to his now changed wife. In summary: a group of exceedingly unattractive and under-appreciative people do rather little over the course of a weekend, but one or two seemed to be changed by it. Oh, and they sell the house. I would keep the house and get rid of the damn kids.

• Game Cast Tries to Keep a Weak Script Afloat

  gregorybnyc2015-01-08

  A wealthy family gathers for a final summer weekend at their beautiful stone home on Lake Tahoe. Mom (played with her patented elegant glow by Patricia Clarkson) and Dad have decided to sell. Things are not boding well for this family gathering. One son has been fired from his job with a financial firm over an expensive clerical error. He arrives in a bad mood and everyone puts up with his insufferable, whiny behavior. The other son, who is gay and works in the film industry, has brought a friend with whom he is forming an attachment that doesn't quite feel like a relationship, and invited a female movie star friend. He is simply embarrassed by his mother's shallow, acquisitive behavior (at one point, Mama plunks down a considerable amount of money on artsy farmer's market things). Nobody is connecting in this family. Mom is a snob. Dad is remote. The kids bicker and look awkward. Throughout the first two-thirds of the film, I wanted to strangle Mom and the kids. But the skill of the actors are what keeps you watching. When there is some sort of sea change in the family, they become a little more likable. But I'm never quite sure why. At the end of the weekend, the son doesn't tell his mother about his work woes, and she doesn't tell either son that she's planning to sell their beloved summer home (though there is some doubt that this will actually happen). I suppose the family games will continue. This is a very well-made film with a strong cast, goo direction, excellent sets, good camera work. Did we need to have the trio from Mozart's COSI FAN TUTTE yet again (this has to be the fourth time I've heard it used on a soundtrack). The film's faults can be directed at a very weak screenplay. I'm not looking for a tidy denouement, but I do rather insist that things make at least a little sense.

• Misery rises to the level of comfort

  stills-62015-01-02

  The people in this movie are clueless narcissists, very well portrayed. I know people like this, limousine liberals, and this is perfectly spot on. And then the portrayal of their humanity gradually shining through the fog of pretension infects every character and makes for a great movie experience. Patricia Clarkson is once again fabulous in a lead role, and the others play off of her nicely. The pretty scenery doesn't hurt, and the director makes full use of the stunning light show that the California/Nevada mountains provides. I question some of the devices that went nowhere, like the screenplay and the Indian museum. They are not used as devices so much as character filler, most of which is not necessary for our understanding of the characters, but which also doesn't get too much in the way. I have liked Mays in other things she's done, but I thought she was a bit miscast for the role she was asked to play. I thought the story could have done more with the Nora-Sean couple other than just fill up the house and provide background. Overall though, I really liked the way this movie was put together. It does a very good job of showing how insular this world can be and how people who want for nothing will manufacture their own problems just by calling them problems. Misery rises to the level of comfort. All this without veering off into melodrama. Highly recommended.