By the end it's lost any edge and is as soft and unappealing as a geriatric incontinence pad.
Comment
01/24/08
Man in the Chair (2007)
50 %
Reviews Counted: 32 Fresh: 16 Rotten:16 Average Rating: 5.3/10
Consensus:
A committed performance from Christopher Plummer can't save Man in the Chair's troubled and cliched script.
Rated: 12A [See Full Rating]
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Theatrical Release: 25-01-2008
Synopsis: MAN IN THE CHAIR stars Christopher Plummer (A BEAUTIFUL MIND, THE SOUND OF MUSIC) as weathered curmudgeon Flash Madden. The former film gaffer is embittered about Hollywood's current regime that perpetuates a throwaway society by neglecting and forgetting the crews and creators that... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Michael Angarano, M. Emmet Walsh, Robert Wagner, Tracey Walter
Director: Michael Schroeder
Screenwriter: Michael Schroeder
Producer: Michael Schroeder, Randy Turrow, Sarah Schroeder
Composer: Laura Karpman
Screenwriter: Michael Schroeder
Producer: Michael Schroeder, Randy Turrow, Sarah Schroeder
Composer: Laura Karpman
Reviews
Ambitious, heartfelt but, Plummer's excellent performance aside, dramatically lightweight and unconvincing.
01/24/08
Top Critic
A fair-to-middling contemporary fantasy drama that, despite its surfeit of flashy effects, is mildly charming in the way it addresses the injustice of old folk having to live out their final years in decrepit homes.
01/24/08
Top Critic
Watchable drama with a strong performance from Christopher Plummer, though the script often feels simplistic and can't quite manage the emotional punch the story deserves.
01/24/08
Man In The Chair feels a bit like a high school movie project, which is appropriate since that's exactly what it's about.
01/01/08
Top Critic
As in Cocoon(1985), the emphasis is on sentiment, feel-good and reclaiming the elderly from the scrapheap. But the performances are nowhere near as subtle.
11/24/07
Top Critic
It's hard to imagine anyone other than Christopher Plummer taking on the role of Flash Madden.
08/07/08
This attempt to make a film is about a guy who is attempting to make a film.
01/22/08
By salvaging a troubled script with deep, committed, touching portrayals, Plummer and Walsh help prove Schroeder's points about how Hollywood isn't just the province of the rich, young and pretty.
12/21/07
The movie works so hard at juggling its clichés that it fails to generate interest in its story.
12/21/07
Top Critic
Though they can't transcend writer-director Michael Schroeder's pointed contrivances, the actors tap into something achingly true in this valentine to Hollywood's below-the-line crafts people and society's castoffs.
12/14/07
Top Critic Top Critic
Overdirected and underwritten, this litany of Hallmark Channel tropes and button-pushing sentiment uses Tinseltown treacle to gussy up an otherwise forgettable message movie about humane treatment for the elderly.
12/13/07
A film that probably never wouldn't have seen the light of a projector if it wasn't for some kind of "Let's get Actor X that long-deserved Oscar" grab.
12/12/07
Schroeder's heart is in the right place, but his cinematic taste is unfortunately elsewhere.
12/10/07
Top Critic
With its flashy, music-video style edits, rock-scored montages and septuagenarian cast, it’s hard to say who, exactly, is the right audience for this unusual comedic drama from director Michael Schroeder.
12/07/07
Pictures
News
Critical Consensus: The Golden Compass Loses Its Way
posted by Tim Ryan December 06, 2007
This week at the movies, we've got the first installment of the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass,...
posted by Tim Ryan December 06, 2007
This week at the movies, we've got the first installment of the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass,...
IGN RSS Feeds