'Dad & I'm Not Rappaport - Double Feature'
(Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ted Danson, Ethan Hawke, Ossie Davis, et al / Blu-ray / PG-13 / 2020 / Mill Creek Entertainment)
Overview: In 'Dad,' when workaholic John Tremont's (Ted Danson) mother (Olympia Dukakis) is unexpectedly hospitalized, he returns home to care for his aging father (Lemmon).
As John teaches his father to regain his independence, the two of them form a friendship and John realizes what's missing from his own life. Dad reminds us all of the importance of family in this moving story.
In 'I'm Not Rappaport,' eighty-one-year-old Nat Moyer (Walter Matthau) is a compulsive and fanciful talker, a feisty philosopher, and a troublemaker given to assuming personalities.
His daily companion on a bench in New York's Central Park is Midge Carter (Ossie Davis), a half-blind apartment superintendent. Midge's approach to life is realistic and down-to-earth, making him the perfect foil for Nat.
With vaudevillian flair, these appealing oldsters outrageously take on the world and its multiple threats - drug dealers and muggers, enlightened children, forced retirement, and the specter of the old folk's home.
Blu ray Verdict: When watching 'Dad' (1989) it instantly brought me back to the good old '80s. This is really not a comedy, but a very serious family drama and for that alone I love it.
Ergo, 'Dad' is a very touching, and purely family-oriented movie that I'm sure was very popular with a specific audience back in the day (as I'm sure it will be now, fresh out on Blu-ray.
Watching the movie allows it to touch a very deep part of our souls, of our spent lives as all of us have to face the fact that our parents are growing old, and one day they will leave us forever.
It is quite emotional throughout here, but in reality, how many of the people living in the USA now have the courage, time and money to actually live with their older parents till the day they depart?
That said, 'Dad' lovingly brings three generations all together and shows us how to do a well-done drama. It does not have a happy ending, but that said, it gives us a very realistic feeling that we all have, or will have to face, that's for sure.
In 'I'm Not Rappaort' (1996), Walter Matthau is just great as an aging man who lives to hang out in Central Park and tells outrageous lies!
He strikes up a relationship with a man whom he drives nuts with his outlandish yarns and at the same time Matthau tries a con on several people trying to help them and himself out, but they all backfire!
This film had a story that had me riveted to my sofa as not only is it, at times, slapstick funny, but at its core is a message to be heard and understood and cherished, if possible (I won't tell you what it is, you'll have to watch the movie and figure it out for yourselves).
The entire production was filmed in Central Park, the scenery is beautiful, and many shots of the surrounding buildings are a delight to behold now as some have actually either gone or been modernized.
A wonderful movie from joyous start to finish, to me, the strongest sections of the film are those that ignore the adventures but concentrate on the two men and the dynamics between them - for it is here we get to the core of the characters (or at least as close as we can ever get). These are both Widescreen Presentations (1.85:1) and enhanced for 16x9 TVs.
www.MillCreekEnt.com