A slow-paced and sentimental film, but still a pleasure to watch as the two brilliant and dignified leads play off each other so well.
Comment
07/20/04
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993)
60
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:20
Fresh:12
Rotten:8
Average Rating:5.9/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Frank (Richard Harris) is an amatory ex-seaman. Walt (Robert Duvall) is a reserved haircutter leading an orderly quiet life. When the two lonely old men meet, they become reluctant friends and swap... [More]
Starring: Robert Duvall, Richard Harris, Shirley MacLaine, Piper Laurie
Director: Randa Haines
Reviews for Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
Top CriticThere aren't really any surprises, but it's a delight to see a movie which idles away without anything more pressing on its mind than people.
01/26/06
Top CriticSteve Conrad's debut screenplay says little that's new, but the actors make it fresher and more powerful than it has a right to be.
01/01/00
It's another right of passage movie that pinballs off of clichés as though that is a way to achieve meaning.
01/01/00
Portrays the salutary ways in which two very dissimiliar elders enrich each other's lives.
08/20/02
The movie is essentially about the close observation of behavior. Like some of Hemingway's stories, the real action is all implied. The characters trade small talk, and we sense that larger issues are lurking beneath their cheerfulness.
01/01/00
Top CriticInstead of simply assuming that the old have interesting lives, the film never stops congratulating itself for being daring enough to focus on them.
05/20/03
Top CriticAn endearing buddy movie for the senior crowd.
01/01/00
Randa Haines' sappy, rather dull melodrama about the friendship between two eccentric old men is mostly a showcase for its stars, Robert Duvall and Richard Harris.
06/27/07
Top CriticWrestling Ernest Hemingway is melodramatic, and its pacing is rather slow, but it is also filled with fine acting and quirky but believable relationships, and ultimately proves quite satisfying.
01/01/00
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway aspires to be serious about its subject. Yet in a curious way this sobriety works against it. Frank and Walt turn into schematically contrasting case studies, and the movie's sympathy for them eventually becomes patronizing.
06/14/09
Top CriticThis movie is so loaded down with calendar-poster sentiments, you may find yourself wanting to wrestle the filmmakers.
01/01/00
This is a film of two superlative performances from Richard Harris and Robert Duvall, who play an odd couple drawn together by their common loneliness as they become friends in the winter of their lives
07/19/08
Offers little in the way of narrative drive or plot conflict, and what does happen is far from surprising. MacLaine and Piper Laurie are more or less wasted in supporting roles, and pretty Sandra Bullock is given almost nothing to do.
06/14/09
Top CriticClick to read the article
11/06/09
Top CriticA deeply moving and wonderfully acted film about loneliness and friendship. This is one to treasure.
10/05/05
Funny, touching, understated. Melancholy, bittersweet, lovely.
07/07/04
No review available.
04/25/05
No review available.
06/14/05
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