Nobody's Fool (1994)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

NOBDY'S FOOL As simple as an American story can get to .Essentially about an American real estate boom hinging on a theme park project that never takes off , guess what … the have's pack up and leave whereas the have-nots happily keep whatever little they have .Stellar cast with Bruce Willis , Melaine Griffith , Philip Seymour Hoffman but the high point is the magnificent and towering presence of the actor in Paul Newman . As a working class do gooder he takes his life easy , at times "irresponsible" but preserves humane values within , values relationships , cares for friends and the elderly , finds true love and free from guilt and greed . Jessica Tandy of the classic Driving Miss Daisy makes her last appearance on screen in this movie !!! A well deserving Oscar nomination earned by him , Paul Newman at his best . Wondering why all the good left leaning stories are made using the capital raised from just the opposite. Sure shows how the wealthy 1% ( occupy Wall street jargon !!! ) knows how to keep the other 99% amused watching their own miserable low lives .

This is almost a definition of 'Indie' and it's the kind of movie that gives 'indie' a good name. Overall we retain an impression of superb ensemble acting yet when we look withing the ensemble we are hard put to dismiss any one performer as less than excellent - though if I had to ditch one it would be Ruby. It's more a less a given that Paul Newman is going to come out on top in virtually anything in which he appears but here he is given honorable opposition by Jessica Tandy, Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith. The atmosphere of an upstate New York town in winter is evoked to a fare-thee-well and there is one superb shot reminiscent of a Breughel landscape with figures. Full marks for everyone concerned.

Nobody's Fool comes from that breed of easy, quaint small-town character dramas that are warm and enjoyable while you watch them but you know you're going to forget about entirely by the next day. It's a very nice, comfortable viewing but there's not really anything in it that will make it last. The story focuses on Sully, played by Paul Newman with excellent world-worn weariness, and his interactions with the many different people living in his small town around Christmas time.Within the first half an hour you can guess where everything is going to end up, and you wouldn't be far off on any of it. It's definitely not the kind of film that you're going to be thinking about after it's over, but it's nice and easy while you're watching it. It also suffers from "way too many" endings syndrome, where the last half hour is basically one scene after another of big emotional payoffs with Sully wrapping up his story with each individual character and it's kind of brutal to get through, but the whole thing is made slightly better than it would have been with a group of quality performances.Jessica Tandy delivers her last screen performance and it's one of genuine charm and presence that I enjoyed thoroughly, and it's great to see Bruce Willis take on the role of a total sleezebag whose teeth you want to knock down his throat the moment you meet him, but the film undoubtedly belongs to Newman. Sully is the kind of old rascal that you love to root for even when he's making mistakes, and it's the type of character that Newman has made a career out of excelling at. He's a "born loser", as it were, but he plays it with such a warm heart that you can't help but smile watching him.Sully is a cantankerous old man and Newman plays him with the appropriate amount of anger, resentment and arrogance, but there are small moments, like the one where he lets his grandson drive his truck on his lap and a big smile comes across his face, where he lights up the room and you can see the potential of this man.In a lot of ways, Sully feels like the appropriate evolution of those cocksure heroes that Newman found himself playing often in the '60s, and he mixes this one with that same blend of charisma and human flaws that made him the icon he is. He would still act for another decade after this, delivering a few more quality performances, but this one felt like the ultimate swan song for one of the great American actors and it was one wholly appropriate for his skill and inspiration.

Many reviewers have already cited the excellent acting and the sheer high quality of the movie, so I'll suffice to say I echo their sentiments. I will add that Bruce Willis earns respect as a real actor; his star was well towards its apex when he played this role which could really have been done by many character actors who specialize in playing weasels. Willis took this ordinary supporting role and made it into a very memorable and even likable character.What I love about this film is the story itself, in that Sully Sullivan, an aging handy-man, APPEARS to be struggling with his life and what it meant, when in reality an entire town depends on Sullly to be....well....Sully. He is the thread that weaves the whole town and its many stories together. Even the few people who don't like him depend on him.(Possible spoiler) Toward the end, his son sums it all up and even pays him the ultimate compliment when he says to Sully "It's not easy being you." Simply a great movie on so many levels.