Final (2001)

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

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

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

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Actually, there are no spoilers in this note, as there is nothing to spoil.I like movies where they make up what they are going to do as they do it. Sometimes the movie is working well, while other times you wish they would have written something out before turning the camera on. Maybe if they woke the actors up later in the day, the actors could have figured out more of a plot, since obviously the writers went out for a nice lunch somewhere far away from the set, and repeated calls to their cell phones for help were never returned. You never know minute to minute if the movie is ever going to go anywhere, or whether it ever might make sense. A suspense movie in that regard. I especially liked Hope Davis in this movie, as whatever plot development there was happened through her unspoken words. Not necessarily art, just good movie-making, anti-Hollywood.

Channel surfing one night, I caught this film somewhere after it started and was drawn in by the premise, which if you have read the included summary, you know involves a man, locked inside an institution, claiming he is from the past. The interplay between the psychologist, wonderfully played by Hope Davis, and the "patient" played by Denis Leary, was very fascinating. Having stepped into the movie after it started, I was swept away by my imagination as to what was really going on. I continued to watch the film for another 20 minutes, still intrigued by the story. How did this man find himself in the institution? I searched my program guide, learned the film was going to be on a later date, and set my dish/recorder. When I watched the film from the beginning, (Warning, a little of the film plot) I realized how he came into the institution, was a mystery, at least to him. I was very impressed with Denis Leary's acting. Having seen him in the Ref which was a comedy, I enjoyed him, later, having watched him in Two If by Sea (terrible film) and The Job (an awful main character made this show difficult to enjoy), I didn't really expect him to show the depth of acting he was able to portray in this film. If you enjoy him on Rescue Me,(some of the finest work on television today, which makes the summer viewing pleasurable) and are now going back to view some of his earlier work, you will not be disappointed in the time you spend engrossed with this film.

In this off-beat psycho-drama, Denis Leary slowly comes to the realization he is being kept in a state psychiatric institution for reasons that are both confusing to both him AND the audience. Under the watchful eye of Dr. Ann Johnson (Hope Davis), Leary careens from one flashback to another.He is convinced that his short, ill-fated marriage, the death of his father, and his drinking binges somehow unhinged him. But can those items explain the paranoia he suffers about a coma, cryosurgery, and a conspiracy to keep him under Government control?The relationship between patient and doctor plods along slowly, and there are some holes in the logic that continue to badger even the most casual film critic. However, in the final analysis, Leary and Davis are appealing as a tragic couple. There is that confrontation with the truth at the end that makes any of us ask, "What is sanity... and to whom should we trust this sanity?"

Being a huge fan of Denis Leary, and Hope Davis I knew going in I would enjoy it. I didn't anticipate how much, or how long afterward I'd be re-running scenes in my brain. I couldn't wait to check it out on the IMDb to read what others felt after viewing it. I'm a retired Psychiatric RN and kept questioning what Hope Davis was doing with her patient... I'd love to have this shown to a group of Mental Health workers and read their reviews. Unlike one of your reviewers I didn't connect any religious association at all with, and after reading that review think the reviewer was one of my former patients...still obsessing over his own devils. At first I didn't recognize Leary with the very short crew cut, but I'm so glad they did that too-this certainly isn't a comedy for Leary, rather it is a showcase for Campbell Scott's direction and the ensemble cast are to be congratulated. I may go buy a copy- it was just wonderful.