MOVIES: Get Low (Aaron Schneider, 2010)

I had mixed feelings about this one. There are some fine performances and a nice eye for Depression-era period detail, but the story is structured in a clumsy fashion, and it lumbers along so badly that I'd recommend waiting for cable/DVD.

Robert Duvall stars as Felix Bush, a notorious hermit who has lived on his own for 40 years or so; the locals have turned him into a monstrous bogeyman, telling stories to one another about the horrible things he's done that led to his isolation. He comes into town one day and asks funeral director Bill Murray to arrange a "funeral party," at which everyone is invited to tell their stories about him, and he'd like to have that party now, while he's still alive.

It becomes clear fairly quickly that Felix is hiding a secret, and that he's throwing this party in the hopes that someone will tell the story he can't bring himself to tell about what really happened 40 years ago. (I'm not sure who he expects to tell the story, since everyone else who was present at the time is long since dead, but we're not encouraged to think about that too much.)

The actors generally do good work, though Duvall is unfortunately at his worst in the big monologue, which reeks of "Look, Ma, I'm acting!" Murray continues to amaze me with how much he conveys without seeming to do much of anything, and Lucas Black is utterly charming as Murray's assistant, who struggles with the ethics of throwing a funeral party for the living. Sissy Spacek's role as Felix's old flame is rather underwritten, though she's lovely to watch in the few scenes she does get; and the reliably fine Bill Cobbs has some nice moments as another old friend who is reluctant to take part in Felix's party.

But the movie is built to lead inexorably to Duvall's big monologue; no one's actions feel organic, and nothing is allowed to be said (or, more often, not said) unless it will move the story in that direction. It's the clunkiest screenplay I've seen in a long time, ticking off the obvious beats to its Big Finish, and you can surely find a better way to spend your movie dollars.