(Seen on 5/19/08) I’m not quite sure why they’re trying to sell this film like one of the quirky coming-of-age films, with the comic book type poster, like it’s the next Juno or Rocket Science. Except for a slightly off-skew sense of humor, this film is nothing like those types. It’s not cute or quirky, there are no smart-ass teenagers; nor is the soundtrack full of Violent Femmes songs. This is an adult film, with adult issues, and a lot to do about death and how people death with it. But it’s funny.

Even though both the main characters, Wendy and Jon Savage, are middle aged, it does have one thing in common with those kinds of films; it’s a coming-of-age story. Both Jon and Wendy are stuck in an advanced state of adolescence. What finally kicks them in the ass to grow up, is dealing with their dying father. Wendy, played with spit and vinegar by Laura Linney, is an artsy-little-girl stuck in a woman’s body. Wendy is having an affair with a married man, does temp jobs, while dreaming about writing plays; her only responsibility being a potted plant. Her younger brother Jon, another wonderful character from one of the greatest actors of our generation, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, is a little more grown-up; he has a real job as a professor of literature and a live in girlfriend, but he's still very much figuring out life.

When their father’s girlfriend dies, leaving him without a home, they’re forced to move him from Arizona, into a low rent retirement home in Buffalo, NY, where Jon teaches school. It’s quite apparent to them, that he doesn’t have much time left and they decide that Wendy will move in with Jon for a while, so they can spend his lingering days together. They didn’t have much of a family life together when they were young, they want the opportunity to get to know him before he’s gone. This dysfunctional family slowly learns how to love each other once again. Jon’s also dealing with his girlfriend’s visa expiring, and her being forced out of the country; while Wendy and her married boyfriend’s relationship comes to a head.

The Savages is a wonderful little film, full of great performances; with Linney and Hoffman making their characters fully rounded and sometimes too close to home. I also really liked Philip Bosco as the father Lenny, he gives dying a true depth, a reality, and some humor. This is not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but sometimes you have to chuckle at the darkest moments in life, because dwelling on them too much would be too much to handle. Writer/director Tamara Jenkins culled this film out of her real life experiences, and the film feels all the more realistic for it. (She also did a little film I dug called The Slums of Beverly Hills.) This is a film with a true beating heart, it understands how people really act out their lives. Spending some time with The Savages leaves you with more life experience. – Grade: B+

This is one of those movies, that looked so middle of the road, that I really had no interest in it. I enjoy Robin Williams for the most part, but this looked like his same old shtick warmed over. Barry Levinson is a decent director, but he hasn't done anything truly memorable in almost two decades. It looked like all the same jokes I've seen in other political comedies like Wag the Dog or The Daily Show. I really only bothered with it, because I try to see everything, it'd been sitting on our DVR for a few weeks, and I was in the mood for a comedy. Luckily it turned out better than I thought.

Not a whole lot better mind you, but it offered a few new jokes and some good political ideas, that made it worth watching. Plus the cast is top notch, it's hard not to get into something starring Williams, Christopher Walken, Laura Linney and a personal favorite Lewis Black. The filmmaking is your average Hollywood production, with everyone's hair and make-up perfect, the lighting colorful and bright; nothing to complain about, but nothing to take notice of either.

Williams plays Tom Dobbs, the host of a political comedy show; when an audience member suggests that he runs for president, the idea starts to build until he's actually doing it. Christopher Walken is Tom's manager, who isn't too pleased to be moving from the entertainment world to the political one. When Dobbs runs with a typical, boring political campaign, his writer Lewis Black takes offense. Both him and Walken want him to run as himself, a comedian. He's resistant to the idea, until the final debate, when he's so sick of the bullshit that the other candidates are spewing, that it sets him off and makes him tell the truth about the whole political process in a very funny and enlightening way, it's easily the best scene in the film.

I could have done without the subplot about Laura Linney, who works at a company that is running the first Presidential vote tallied solely by computers. When a computer glitch accidentally gives Dobbs the presidency, she's the only one who knows. When the guys running the computer company find out, they ruin her life, so she won't have any credibility when she tries to tell somebody. The whole story drags the film down, I never cared a bit about it. They could have come up with some other way for Linney and Williams to get involved with each other. And I would have liked to have seen the film play with Dobbs winning the election for real.

I can't complain too much about the film, it's too average to really care. I didn't think about Man of the Year once after it was over. I didn't feel like I wasted my time, but it didn't change a single idea in my head. It isn't challenging or truly interesting in any way. If you want a few laughs, from some recognizable actors, in a completely safe setting; this is your film.