Memories of Me (1988)
After a heart attack, Abbie Polin (Crystal), a New York doctor, goes to Los Angeles to see his father, Abe (King), who works in Hollywood as the "king of the extras." Their relationship has been strained for several years. This was the first movie directed by Henry Winkler, and much of it was filmed inside the MGM Studios in Culver City, California, only a few miles from Hollywood. Lisa, the romantic interest in Abbie's life, also comes for a visit and bonds with Abe, who gets along famously with everyone but his son. Abe begins having memory loss and eventually is diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. He and his son grow closer in time and, before it's too late, Abbie tries to get Abe a speaking role in a film.
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Good story, Not enough for a whole film
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Abbie (Billy Crystal) is a surgeon who just had a heart attack. On his on again off again girlfriend Lisa (JoBeth Williams)'s insistence, he visits his estranged father Abe (Alan King). Abe is a failed actor/extra who is slowly suffering from dementia.Henry Winkler directs this movie. He doesn't really have any vision or style. All he does is just turn on the camera and let the actors go. And that's what Alan King does. He's manic. He's powerful. Billy Crystal is playing the angry young man trying to reconnect with his crazy father.The pace is slow and cumbersome. The jokes come fast and deliver flat. Everybody is grumpy. I hoped the movie to be better. I'm pulling for them. But Crystal is just too grumpy.The stuff about being an extra just doesn't ring true. It may seem right if you don't think about it. But if an extra keeps causing trouble, he'd be quickly kicked off the set.
"There's an art to being incidental", says Abe Polin, king of the Hollywood extras, and here's a case in point. This gentle, affectionate comedy is nothing more than incidental entertainment, but it works, thanks to the textbook timing and genuine rapport between Alan King and Billy Crystal as Abe and his estranged son Abbie, who wants to mend fences with the man he calls "a professional embarrassment" after suffering a mild heart attack (brought on by a chronic lack of attention). The sentimental attachment to all those noble, nameless Hollywood extras is like a page borrowed from Frank Capra's scrapbook, but if the film tugs the heartstrings a little too hard at least it compensates by not force-feeding the humor, settling for smiles instead of belly-laughs. Abbie's sensitivity to his father's eccentric behavior can be tiring, and Jobeth Williams' gratuitous role (the concerned girlfriend) is simply irritating, but where else can you expect to meet the man who invented 'the courtroom wallah'?
Schmaltzy seriocomedy dealing with doctor Crystal's re-examination of his life, which at the core lies an estranged relationship with his father (King). So it's off to L.A. for in-fighting, pent-up resentments, and your typical barrage of cats-and-dogs-living-together nonsense. Like an old married couple, Crystal and King bicker, find some common ground, make up, then one insults the other and we're back to square one. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.The major problem with the film is that Billy Crystal has never been more unlikable or angry. In a sense, he's the villain of the piece. King is the kid, carefree and footloose, while Crystal is his straight-man, constantly finding fault and prone to rages. Yes, we understand he was a bad father, but King's character --- though a typical curmudgeon --- has so much life and good humor about him, that Crystal's never-can-be-budged attitude is really a disappointment playing against type. A serious Billy Crystal is not an enjoyable one.Crystal's co-written script and Winkler's direction reek of treacly melodrama far too often. The most awkward moment deals with an infuriated Crystal seeking refuge --- after an umpteenth fight with dad --- in the arms of his girlfriend. The violins are cranked up, Crystal disrobes, begins kissing down her stomach, they straddle each other...ick. All that was missing was slow-motion, perhaps. So maybe I should stand corrected; a love scene with Billy Crystal, is not an enjoyable one as well.There are some witty jabs at showbiz, King's standing in the community as "King of the Extras", filmic references, and a touching moment or two that stay out of the aforementioned overly sentimental realm. Plus Crystal and King (both of whom produced) expectedly work well together, considering their backgrounds. Not just with the expected comic moments, but stretching their dramatic bones as well. And Jobeth Williams as their female foil, has never looked better in her life. She adds some much needed light and beauty to the mostly drab circumstances.Don't expect much from this forgotten parental allegory ("Unhappy Memories of Me" would've been more apt), and don't watch it with dad if you guys have always had problems. You'll at least get a couple of quotable barbs to share with others, such as Crystal and King preparing for bed: Crystal: "I'm gonna turn in." King: "To what?" And one of the all-timers at a traffic accident: Cop: "Are you a doctor?" King: "No, he's an electrician, but he's good with his hands!"Both those are few and far between.
Okay, the movie really isn't that good but it really does make me wail like a newborn. It's the whole father/son relationship thing that works in this film. I'm not a big fan of Billy Crystal but he's okay in this. Alan King is the real star and he shines pretty bright. Give it a chance.