A shallow Broadway press agent (Jack Lemmon) discovers he's dying. At the same time his ex-wife (Lee Remick) and their kid (Robby Benson) visit. They all try to come to terms with his impending death and bond.
Sounds pretty terrible doesn't it? The script is annoyingly predictable, it goes on far too long and Benson is just horrible but this is still worth catching just for Lemmon. I've heard he did this on stage beforehand so he knew the character and plays it to perfection. He's just great from beginning to end. He was justly nominated for an Academy Award for this. Remick isn't in this much but she does wonders with a clichéd character. Also the wonderful Colleen Dewhurst was sadly underused as Lemmon's doctor. Still for Lemmon's performance alone this is worth catching. It looses points because of the predictable script and Benson's truly horrible performance.
Sounds pretty terrible doesn't it? The script is annoyingly predictable, it goes on far too long and Benson is just horrible but this is still worth catching just for Lemmon. I've heard he did this on stage beforehand so he knew the character and plays it to perfection. He's just great from beginning to end. He was justly nominated for an Academy Award for this. Remick isn't in this much but she does wonders with a clichéd character. Also the wonderful Colleen Dewhurst was sadly underused as Lemmon's doctor. Still for Lemmon's performance alone this is worth catching. It looses points because of the predictable script and Benson's truly horrible performance.