“Heavenly shades of night are falling…it’s twilight time”, and we’re not talking about sparkly teen vampires. No, those lyrics from the Platters golden oldie could very well be used as the theme for this movie, and perhaps its iconic lead actor. As many “golden age” film stars reach their “golden years”, they often look toward a project that may be the perfect coda to their long career, maybe a farewell to their screen persona. Hey wouldn’t you rather ride into the sunset with THE SHOOTIST (as John Wayne did) than headline a flick called TROG ( Joan Crawford’s finale’)? Perhaps this is the case for fabled film funny man Jerry Lewis. At the tail end of the “golden age” of Hollywood (1948), he and then partner Dean Martin ruled the box office for eight years. After their split, Jerry had even greater success as a solo for a good twelve years, even directing his films, until the new young turks and adult movie subject matter had Lewis retreating to TV and the stage. He did return to film occasionally, most memorably in a dramatic role with Martin Scorsese’s KING OF COMEDY as talk show host Jerry Langford. Now Lewis is back in movie theatres playing another dramatic role, like himself, a longtime entertainer, named MAX ROSE.
Under the opening titles and credits, the camera gives us a slow tour of memorabilia telling us of the life of celebrated jazz pianist Max Rose: family photos, record albums, and newspaper clippings. A dissolve to a hospital hallway tells us that Max (Lewis) has just lost his wife of 65 years, Eva (Claire Bloom). Back at the home they shared, Max looks lost as his only son Chris (Kevin Pollak) and his daughter Annie (Kerry Bishe’) tidy up. He tries to shoo them out, but Annie insists on staying. Max imagines that Eva is still speaking to him from another room. The next day he gives a rambling speech at Eva’s funeral, calling himself a failure over and over until Annie gently leads him back to his seat. Returning home, Annie still wants to stay despite Max’s protests. Then he discovers an old compact of Eva’s tucked away in the corner of a drawer. Under the powder-puff he sees a puzzling engraved message from someone named Ben and dated November 1959, when Max and Eva were still married. Could she have had a secret lover? After Annie finally returns to her job, he rummages through all of Eva’s old sketchbooks, hoping to find a portrait of “Ben”. Trudging up and down the stairs, Max collapses and blacks out. He wakes up in a strange room. Chris has placed him in an assisted care retirement center, while he has sold the family home. Max tries to adjust to his new surroundings, even making a few new friends. But he still has that compact, and with the help of his new pals, he is determined to learn of his wife’s secret life.
Lewis gets to work his dramatic chops as the mournful Max, showing us his tender side with the grand-daughter he adores, but then can turn on a dime by spewing vicious bile at the son he can barely stand, with a glare that “shoots daggers”. Shuffling about his empty house it seems that every second of his eighty plus years weighs heavily. A bit of the happy clown reappears in the scenes with his new pals at the”home”, but the only thing that seems to energize Max is his great quest into his wife’s past. Lewis shows us that this mystery may be the only things that gets Max out of bed, or the cemetery. He’s always compelling, still making us follow him anywhere. Bishe’ makes a great partner, though not quite the great Dino, as the doting Annie. At times she acts as a mother figure to her sullen grandpa’, resorting to corny grade-school jokes and visual gags (the ole’ escalator behind the couch bit) in an effort to bring him out of his funk. She also shows us the toll that her devotion puts on her life, straining her now long-distance marriage. While Bishe’ is the cheerleader, Pollak is the punching bag through most of the story, enduring his father’s wraith and disdain, making us wonder how he fell so far out of favor. Luckily Pollak shows us Chris’s concern and courage as he finally stands up to his pop and reads him the “riot act”. Bloom is a luminous wise-cracking ghost haunting Max’s mind at all hours, an enigma just out of his reach. 1960’s satirist Mort Sahl along with veteran actors Vance Howard (Ron’s papa) and Lee Weaver display lots of mischievous energy as the hellions of the senior center, while Ileana Douglas has a wonderful cameo as that center’s director. And it’s great to see Dean Stockwell shine in a pivotal role in the film’s final moments.
Director/screenwriter Daniel Noah’s film is full of noble intentions, trying to shine a light on the lives of the aged and their families. Unfortunately it gets bogged down with sentimentality that slows the story to a snail’s crawl (going through Eva’s art goes on and on and…). The lead character is often unsympathetic, not only when he pushes away his son, but by his surly obstinate demeanor with nearly everyone he encounters. And once the mystery has been resolved the movie just seems to evaporate after a syrupy scene at a pay phone (how long’d he search for that?). This type of tale has been told with more style and wit in NEBRASKA, but for the hardcore admirers of “the kid”, Mr. “Hey Laaaady!”, not just his French fanatics, MAX ROSE will be a welcome, if somewhat maudlin, long overdue cinema reunion.
2.5 Out of 5
MAX ROSE opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas
