I'll See You in My Dreams (2015)

I enjoyed this. I didn't have to use much of my brain. Simple, silly and fun.

I wasted 2 hours of my life that I will NEVER get back after reading the reviews and then watching this vapid, dull, insipid movie. I kept waiting for something to happen. The script was rambling. There was NO theme. I can't believe that someone invested real money into making this pathetic movie. People just wander in and out of the scenes. There is no real character development. The characters have no depth. It is just a movie about old people breathing, walking and sleeping. Blythe Danner looks wonderful at her age but she needs a good hairdresser and stylist. Sam Elliott's place in her life had potential but, like everything else in this movie, the audience is left wanting. I'm still wondering why the pool guy returned later in the movie. The writers, producers and directors could have chosen a much better vehicle for Blythe Danner and Sam Elliott. If you have nothing else better to do with two hours of your life, you can watch this movie. But, if you have something more exciting to do, like sleeping, do that.

I'll See You in My Dreams is a sweetly unremarkable film about friendship and making the most out of life, serving mostly as a vehicle for its star Blythe Danner, who captures your heart in her opening scenes during which she says goodbye to her dog. From then on, Danner is endlessly likable and we as viewers want nothing more than for her to be happy. She displays grief with sincere authenticity and displays a real knack for singing as well.There's nothing remarkable about the rest of the film. Danner is the lonely widow Carol gradually learns to open up to friendship with her pool cleaner Lloyd and a relationship with the unbelievably cool Bill (Sam Elliott, who rocks 71 like no actor can). Her relationship with Bill is a bit underdeveloped (he asks her out, they go out, its very simple and conventional) but Elliott and Danner have terrific chemistry to make it watchable. Unfortunately, Martin Starr is unable to convey much as Lloyd, a rather bland and boring character with an almost insultingly simple character arc. The film seems to want to create a "will they won't they" story for Lloyd and Carol, which is great for gender equality but not very conceivable as a plot point, but also seems to be trying to emphasise the necessity of friendship. Well, Carol doesn't need him - she's got three much more fun friends in the form of June Squibb, Rhea Perlman and Mary Kay Place. The four old women are absolutely delightful and Squibb especially is incredibly underused. A scene in which the four of them smoke weed is the most fun in the entire film. Also she has a daughter who pops up in two scenes. Don't ask much about her.Brett Haley doesn't do a lot with the direction of the film save for one very powerful shot in which Danner learns of Bill's deus ex machina death (he looked in prime health to me, but the story demands he die!) and we see Bill's fresh flowers still on her table while she weeps in the background. There's some metaphor about a rat that went over my head, and I found the film's ending to be a bit counter-productive. At the start of the film, the death of her dog gets her back out to have fun, but the end of the film sees her adopting another dog right after committing to a spontaneous trip to Iceland. Is it about spontaneity or staying at home with your dog? Make up your mind Haley.Watch the film for Danner, she's a gorgeous old lady who is fun to watch, and the film's pacing makes it a fairly accessible one, but there's not a lot of rewatch value in the film as a whole.

So here is the thing, I am afraid this is the second review in succession I will make about a movie which content I cannot understand. Not that I did not get the conversations or the language, I just did not get what the intention of the movie was. So we have an old single lady who plays cards with a group of friends her age. She starts developing a friendship with the pool boy, she dates a guy who dies before it gets interesting, and she smokes a spliff with her retired girlfriends. So was the director trying to make a movie about love? If that's the case I saw very little of it. Was the movie about living a second life? If that's the case, then going on 2 dates with a guy and smoking pot is hardly considered wild partying in my books. Was the movie about friendship? Well, as I said the protagonist becomes friends with the pool boy. Maybe that's it! It's a movie about friendship. If that's the case, you will learn more about friendship having a drink with your mates than watching this utterly boring flick. Stay away or use it to get to sleep.