The Last Word (2008)

God was this movie awful.First off, the main character has no personality, isn't that great looking and shows no emotion. Yet Winona Ryder practically stalks him to become his girlfriend. Because we all know that in real life, hot girls love strange, psychotic introverts. For some reason in Indie movies, things like this happen all the time. It is total bullshit, a filmmakers wet dream, because most are like the main character. If I go to a club tonight, sit by myself and act like a creepy sociopath, I will really land the hottest girl in the club.His job is to write poetic suicide notes for people, because that is what you really care about when you have decided to off yourself, that you are viewed as a poetic genius. Of course nothing nasty/vindictive about the people in your life that eventually pushed you to that point, like 99.9% of suicide notes.Really dumb movie, written and directed by people with no basis in reality.

I had a chance to see "The last word" although only in DVD. I think this is one of the most interesting and original drama-comedy of the last years. The reasons why this film was pushed straight to DVD is beyond my imagination,comparing to those ordinary(or awful) comedies that usually draw many possible distributors. The film centers on the character of Evan(Wes Bentley),whose job is writing suicide notes for the soon-to-be departed. He's a very quiet man. His life changes when he meets Charlotte(Winona Ryder),sister of one of his client who recently died. She's very free spirited. Charlotte gets interested in Evan. Meanwhile Evan is going to write a note for Abel(Ray Romano)a looser composer who's planning to end his life. So the point is: will Evan be opened with Charlotte about his job and the truth about her brother? Will Abel commit the final act?The pace of the film is engaging,the direction is quite good and the story offers some really stimulating reflections.It portrays a somewhat depressing and impossible "love story" because the characters are fatally compromised and both of them are not able to escape from their own dimension and loneliness.They simply are not able to communicate effectively.However in the end the male lead finds an escape from this wretched existence by ultimately saving the soon-to-be suicide although he destroyed in a way the last chance of a peaceful existence for the female lead.Winona Ryder is simply perfect, her eyes communicating emotions,humor and weakness. After "Girl,interrupted" I think this is her most impressive role and stunning performance(along with "The private lives of Pippa Lee"). Ray Romano is truly great. Wes Bentley is good but not so excellent like his peers. My vote 7/10.

Wes Bentley is Evan. When he meets people and they ask him what he does, he tells them he writes for special occasions. Mainly those special occasions are the suicide notes his clients plan to leave behind. These are not just small notes, they are elegant poems composed especially for the client and to reflect his or her life and the reasons for ending it. In one funny comment, Evan notes that one particular client received an award for his poem ... posthumously.Winona Ryder is Charlotte, the sister of one of Evan's clients. During the weeks leading up to the suicide, when Evan met with him to develop the thrust of the final poem, he gave Evan a photo of him and his sister. Evan thought she was beautiful and wanted to meet her, and does at the funeral service.So far, so good, but what happens next kind of lost me because it didn't seem reasonable. Evan's personality is flat and uncommunicative, but for some reason Charlotte pursues him. Then she takes him to a LA area lounge for drinking and dancing, something he absolutely found no fun it. But she keeps pursuing him until they become a number.The third key character is Ray Romano as Abel, who composes music for "backgrounds", like when you are on hold on a phone call and you hear music in the background.Anyway this is a quirky and often funny movie, but funny in a subtle way. I like Wes Bently, going back to his Ricky character in 'American Beauty.' Ryder, I can take her or leave her. When I see her I think of the messed up shoplifter of a few years ago.The movie would have no value if that's all there was, but through their interactions the three main characters all learn new things about themselves, and grow.

This is a very strange movie about a guy...a very strange guy...who makes his living as a freelance writer of suicide notes for other people. Very dark most of the time with bizarre bits of comedy thrown in thanks to the presence of Ray Romano of all people (Everybody Loves Suicide, I guess). Although you think he'll only be around for a walk on (and kill off) he's around for most of the film and really makes the picture with his deadpan delivery of some wacky but very funny lines that are all the funnier because of the bleakness of the film surrounding them and the context plus his delivery. Romano is a human Eeyore and this film is a perfect foil for him.One joke is very vulgar but (I'm ashamed to admit) I found it very funny, thus the R rating, but most of it is probably from a liberal use of the "F" bomb.Very unsettling, very odd, and all the more surreal because it's also very funny. Worth watching for the (to me) surprise ending alone. Which is appropriate as a last word for this film.