The Last Word - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Last Word

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Death is a terrifying prospect for many people. We’re not sure what’s on the other side, we’re worried about what legacy we left behind, and what type of impact we had in life. It’s fear of the future, it’s a fear that our past is never good enough. Some people don’t FEAR this per se, but there is always that wondering if we truly measured up. That’s one of the reasons many people read the obituaries. On one hand, we want to see the lives of others on display, and on the other hand we’re looking at comparing our life with theirs. Did we live up to those standards? Do we have a change at becoming impactful like those folks did? This is the case with The Last Word, a genially good intentioned film about a grumpy old lady who is looking back on her life and realizing that her obituary is not going to be as glorious as she had hoped. The thing is, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and no amount of good intentions can save The Last Word from the hell of complete and utter mediocrity.

The premise of The Last Word is extremely simple. A curmudgeonly old lady by the name of Harriet Lawler (Shirley MacLaine) is reading up on the obituaries of several people about town that she knew, when the brilliant idea comes into her head to have her own obituary written BEFORE her death. Being an advertising mogul back in her day, Harriet goes down to the local newspaper and DEMANDS that the editor in chief giver her their obituary writer, Anne (Amanda Seyfried), to her on loan so that she can create an obituary for the old woman. Naturally, things don’t go as planned due to the fact that NO ONE has a single nice thing to say about Ms. Lawler. To make matters worse, Harriet is one of those women who HAVE to control everything, and decides that she needs to check off all the check boxes that would allow her to create the PERFECT obituary. Even if has to die trying (yes, pun was intended).

This alone isn’t going to be easy. Harriet and Anne are at each other’s throats the entire time. Anne doesn’t see how anyone can CREATE their own obituary, especially when it’s done in such a mercenary and manipulative way as is the case with Harriet. Now Harriet is not one to let things just play out. She was a tough businesswoman and a tough person in general so she has no intention of slowing down one Iota in her quest for a life that contains meaning. Blah blah blah, things are rough, blah blah blah, Harriet and Anne soon find common ground, and blah blah blah, the films ends on a happy note with Harriet gaining the meaning and admiration by people she always wanted.

If you haven’t thrown up in your mouth just reading the description right now, then safe to say you might like the movie. However, if you are about as nauseated as could be just from reading those three paragraphs, then you’re starting to understand just how bad of a film The Last Word is. I mentioned that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and I will fully admit that the filmmakers truly had good intentions. They wanted to make a movie that was uplifting and funny, with that happy ending where everyone gets what they want and a life lesson has been learned. The thing is, to actually do that you need to make a compelling storyline, and not one that is mired down with some of the most well-worn and inane clichés in the movie business. There’s nothing inspiring about The Last Word, and instead it leaves you with this feeling that your intelligence has been insulted by forcing you to sit through an hour and 48 minutes of one of the most unlikeable people on earth, and then allow yourself to be told that it all works out in the end and you can become likeable to some people just by magic and bonding over music. It feels like a Hallmark movie starring Jenny McCarthy and not an actual Hollywood script that had a reputable writer.

MacLaine does the same old solid job at playing a jerk that she always does, and that’s not a knock against her. She has always been able to play curt characters with a stiff backbone and not a lot of likeability, and she excels here. Seyfried is the problem character as she plays the same semi-vapid blonde that she always had, even years after her start in the industry. She’s not played off as DITZY, like some of her earlier roles, but there just seems to be this aura of vapid nothingness surrounding her personality. The rest of the cast is there for comic relief and for the viewer to giggle (hopefully at least) at the inane stunts that Harriet Lawler did to drive them up the wall so much.




Rating:

Rated R for Language




Video:

The Last Word is a digitally shot production that is competent in its filmmaking style, but it’s not exactly a movie that really lends itself towards eye candy. The fine detail is more than adequate, but the colors and tone of the film are just extremely flat and dull. There’s a few flickers of primary color (such as a red neck tie), but the entire film seems very dull and desaturated for the most part. Thusly, the film takes on a lifeless look that does everything asked of it with ease, but there is no pop, no pizazz, or anything that would make it stand out from a run of the mill looking DTV film (even though it did get a theatrical release). Contrast levels are ok, but black levels are rather mediocre and skin tones take on a rather warm and orangey look





Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix is just barely better than the video encode. While it TECHNICALLY is a 5.1 mix, I’d be more inclined to say that it is actually a 3.0 mix in reality. The surrounds get some very very mild usage here and there with a few instances of background noise, and I think the LFE channel on my amp lit up twice to be exact. The rest of the time we’re listening to a very dialog heavy mix that just “exists” in the front soundstage. Even the two mains don’t get THAT much work, and the overall texture of the track is one that is very flat and unassuming. Everything feels like the dynamic range is next to nil and the result is a fairly competent track that doesn’t have any distortions or flaws to the sound besides being a dull sounding mix.

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Extras:

• nothing besides some trailers

Final Score: ​

The Last Word is about as unlikeable as the main character is. There’s that cheesy sense of hope that is inserted by the scriptwriters, but it maintains a fairly morbid tone to the film with the knowledge of impending doom. Combined with the fact that the film is about as flat and boring as can be, we’re left with the realization that there really is nothing of substance to the film. The acting is livable and the concept is overdone and almost insulting in nature. Add to the mix a very underwhelming audio and video encode as well as no extras and I can firmly give this a “skip it” rating.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Amanda Seyfried, AnnJewel Lee Dixon
Directed by Mark Pellington
Written by: Stuart Ross Fink
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Universal
Rated: R
Runtime: 108 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: June 6th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Skip It

 

[Sonnie]

Yugly sounding for sure... sorry you had to suffer thru it.

 

[JimShaw]

Saved me some money.

I thank you


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