The Benefactor (2015)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The Benefactor (2015) is overall just a boring film that has no idea where it's going. Wasting an all star cast, this tedious movie does nothing but put the audience to sleep. It's actually hard to describe the movie, because of how forgettable it truly is. The actors are given nothing interesting to do,so they come off as bored. The script is dull and the directing is mediocre at best. Richard Gere is the only one having a good time. He is truly the only interesting part of the movie. Theo James just plays along as a sidekick of sorts. Dakota Fanning does very little in the movie. Most of the time, she is just pouting while she holds her obviously fake pregnant stomach. I'll forget this movie in a week or so.'The Benefactor' is nothing worthwhile.

The Benefactor, Franny Watts, (Richard Gere) meddles in the lives of Olivia (Dakota Fanning) and Luke (Theo James) who are expecting their first baby. Olivia was the daughter of Franny's best friends who were killed in an auto accident. Olivia does not know that Franny caused the accident her parents were in. Franny is hooked on pain killers (from the accident) and needs more meds that he hopes Luke, a doctor, will prescribe for him. Everything about Franny is quid pro quo. Every story has a beginning, a middle and an ending or it should have. Here we are in the middle with flashbacks to the beginning and it stays in the middle . Franny goes out of control as he needs meds no one will give him any more and he needs to go into rehab and he is not willing to do that. We are stuck in this middle as Franny is. Before we learn what was just mentioned above we got the feeling this may be quite an uncomfortable movie with the possibility of Franny making moves on Olivia who is many years his junior. That doesn't happen, but that was our take early on as we were squirming every which way on the couch hoping that didn't happen. We got the feeling that much of the story was not told. Hence we are in the middle of the story with no resolution in sight. All this causes us to wonder why this movie was made in the first place. Of course we can read into the last scene and make up the ending, but would we be right? Hmmmmm………The acting all around was good, but it needed a story resolution to make everything complete. (5/10)Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes.

Review: Although Richard Gere is superb in this movie, I couldn't really see the point of it. The film kicks off with Franny (Richard Gere) in the car with his two best friends, Mia (Cheryl Hines) and Bobby (Dylan Baker), and while he is hugging Bobby, who is driving, a speeding car hits there car and Franny manages to escape with fatal wounds but he sadly loses his two best friends. After those dramatic scenes, Franny becomes a recluse and ends up addicted to painkillers until he gets a call from Mia & Bobby's pregnant daughter, Olivia (Dakota Fanning) who wants to come home with her boyfriend Luke (Theo James). After buying the couple a house, Franny does everything for the couple, out of guilt, because he feels responsible for the car crash but when he isn't able to get anymore prescriptions for his painkillers, he becomes out of control, and he's unable to hold it together. That part of the storyline is pretty straight forward but it doesn't seem to go anywhere. I thought that Luke treated Franny quite terribly, after everything that he had done for him, and Olivia didn't really interact with Franny, until the end, when he was struggling against his addiction. Anyway, it's a watchable drama with some emotional scenes but the storyline dries up after a while.Round-Up: Richard Gere, 66, isn't one of those actors that takes on any and every project, that is brought to him and I must admit, some of his latest movies haven't been that great but that's not due to his great acting skills. Since his first movie, Operation Undercover in 1975, Gere has only made 50 movies, which have grossed nearly $1.5Billion, with Pretty Woman being his biggest hit with $178.5 million and he has become a household name with his dashing looks and cool demeanour. This movie was directed by Andrew Renzi, 31, who has only made 3 shorts in his career and a movie called Fishtail, which I personally haven't heard of, so he hasn't got that much experience behind the camera. He certainly got the most out of Richard Gere but from an entertainment point of view, it needed some other elements to keep it interesting.Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $2millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their dramas starring Richard Gere, Theo James, Dakota Fanning, Cheryl Hines, Clarke Peters and Dylan Baker. 4/10

He would be Francis Watt! (Ok, and we wouldn't have one of the finest TV-Shows of recent television)One thing is for sure about The Benefactor. Richard Gere brought the thunder with his performance and pretty much took the whole movie by his own. Then there was Theo James and he did well, I think. I mean... He's the guy from the last Underworld and the Divergent Series... How much can you ask?Of course that is not fair with the guy, he's a professional actor and he can deliver good performances. In the case of The Benefactor, there was not much to do with it. Even Dakota Fanning, one of the most brilliant actress of her generation, didn't have much to do or say... AND THAT SUCKS, 'CAUSE SHE CAN DO MORE!!! C'mon Hollywood, can't you give her good parts for Christ's sake? Does she charges for line delivered?I think... That's all to say that there's not much to say about the acting or the cast, besides Gere. Well, and there was the resemblance between Bobby (Dylan Baker) and Luke (James). Not much as twins, but enough to make clear that Puddles (Fanning) had serious Freudians issues!The Benefactor is the fiction feature debut to the writer and director Andrew Renzi, and I'll say that I liked and I'll wait to see more of that young filmmaker. The work in the directing wasn't anything mind-blowing but didn't let down.The writing... Well, the writing is far from brilliant. Actually, is very flawed. None of the characters is somebody, not even Franny, they all are a mosaic of characteristics. They have no story, no ego. And that's pretty much the reason the acting from the supporting cast is "meh". But the dialog saves it from being a total flop. The dialog is the thing that makes possible Gere's outstanding performance. Imagine the dialog full of exposition, not even Gere suffering the effects of abstinence in silence would make it better.The third act also had a problem. Everything happened so fast. There was no development to all of that and the conclusion lacks credibility for osmosis. Ten or twenty minutes more in the final cut could make all the difference. Turn the silly ending in something really emotional and believable.Nothing else to be said, just enjoy the movie. It isn't a top-shelf but it works for a simple dose of entertainment.