The Pallbearer (1996)

Excellent but underrated film

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.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Pallbearer is a story about a guy who has not gained anything in his life and his future does not look promising either. Well, he is healthy and sane but incredibly unfortunate because he has probably been a too kind person: the life he was supposed to be living has slipped through his fingers. Turning now into latter part of his twenties he realizes that he's still a little boy and he should start doing something.He will have a hopeless crush on a girl, and likewise a widow who has lost his son too will have a hopeless crush on him and that leads into a romance that is both tragic and comical. David Schwimmer makes a good performance as the guy who has to survive from many kinds of embarrassing situations, and Paltrow as the woman will do the standard Paltrow set. Nothing too surprising in the plot but the film is relatively good watching because of some well worked little scenes that faintly resemble Mr. Bean episodes.

This film is about a college graduate whose life is a mess. She gets a surprise invitation to a funeral and met 2 women who would become important in his life.David Schwimmer's character was not developed in a way to make him likable. He seemed sad and radiated negative energy throughout. The film would be so much better if his character was more positive. After all, people who goes to see a movie, especially a romantic comedy, wants to feel good.Gwyneth Paltrow, on the other hand, was developed to be a likable, ordinary girl. however, I felt that she was underused in this film. Well, this may be because she was yet to be famous when this film was made. Ms Abernathy, played by Barbara Hershey, was very well portrayed. I don't recall seeing her before. Her face, especially her eyes, reminded me of Jessica Lange.The story was not so likable, and the name of the film might put people off watching it. If it had another title and a more uplifting script, this could have been a great film.

... You can't exactly shove her out of the way, because she's old; and if you were being charitable you might say that the ponderous gait she ambles along with isn't really her fault. Nevertheless, in these circumstances it's often difficult not to become irritated when you find yourself dragging your heels in her wake. So it is with "The Pallbearer", an attempt to do something 'different' with a romantic comedy that in this way is chiefly hamstrung because the venue is all wrong; sort of like showing off your 'breakdancing' skills at a grandparent's funeral.To further extend the metaphor (perhaps unwisely!); like the old lady, one starts to feel with the set-up of the film that its demise cannot be far away. Sure enough, this particular 'death' is agonizingly protracted, slowly chipping away at our reserves of empathy in tiny little increments, as depressingly we come to the realisation that the proceedings are only headed in one direction: Downhill. Its laboured attempts at 'humour' can be seen coming a mile off - again, not unlike the grim inevitability of death!Returning once again to the image of 'dragging heels', the main character, Tom, is shown to ceaselessly repeat this action throughout his life. If there are indeed degrees of 'pathetic', then this sap is possibly a good few notches ahead of Schwimmer's other - more famous - role. To find oneself in the awkward position of having to align audience sympathies with a character even MORE 'clueless' than Ross is certainly a tough ask even for as 'able' a comic performer as Schwimmer, but I guess he can find fault with himself for signing on to some seriously 'echoing' situations in the first place.How will he ever escape his most famous portrayal if he's picking scripts where the characters could almost be 'interchangeable', even if the situations aren't? A man with a longstanding high-school crush on someone he hasn't seen for years. Sound familiar... ? Paltrow is nothing else if not bland in her 'Rachel' role, but all of this going over old ground would perhaps be forgivable if the noticeable DIFFERENCES present weren't so incongruous as well. Unfortunately, the romantic element is so well-worn it's threadbare, and the 'backdrop' is so inappropriate that it seems the best way to describe the resultant film is as something of a 'stiff'... ! 2/10.

The tone of this film is really difficult to convey on paper. It manages to successfully capture the elusive appeal that David Schwimmer has from time to time; it's easy for his sad-sack personality to grow annoying and pathetic, but this script managed to walk that line. The scenes of embarrassment and shame never seem overdone or cheap, and serve the story well. I especially like the down-to-earth, realistic beauty that Gwyneth Paltrow always brings to a role; she never seems like a movie star playing a real person. Because of Schwimmer's brief tenure as a star with buzz, this was seen as a box office failure, but it was never the kind of movie likely to rake in huge bucks. For what it is, a small, thoughtful, offbeat romantic comedy, The Pallbearer is a winner.