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Last Weekend DVD Review

     Actors: Patricia Clarkson, Joseph Cross, Zachary Booth
  • Director: Tom Dolby, Tom Williams
  • Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC
  • Language: English
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rated: Unrated
  • Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
  • DVD Release Date: December 30, 2014
  • Run Time: 94 minutes


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            When the motion picture industry first began, it was an affordable source of entertainment for the lower working class, those who couldn’t afford tickets to the theater, symphony or ballet. Last Weekend’s biggest error is thinking that a film about the 1% can be sentimentalized into audiences having sympathy for the narcissistic over-privileged. Only Patricia Clarkson’s uncanny ability to subtly make any role engaging, there is no focus in the debut feature from Tom Dolby and Tom Williams.

     

            Clarkson stars as overbearing family matriarch Celia Green, who has gathered her husband and two adult sons (Zachary Booth, Joseph Cross) for one last weekend at their vacation home in Lake Tahoe. Their finances are not doing well, but Celia insists on putting up a front for everyone over the course of the weekend. The reality is that they will be forced to sell the home after one last holiday weekend together, so Celia is determined to make it a memorable one.

     

            Unfortunately for Celia, there are a number of mishaps and unexpected guests to throw a wrench in all of her careful planning. This also becomes the biggest problem with the film’s narrative, so overstuffed with unnecessary supporting characters and sub-plots that none takes any real significance. There is a visiting TV star, temptations for adultery, an allergic reaction, an electrocution, a nosy neighbor, etc. There is too much clutter for a film so understated and underwhelming as this, and far too few relatable characters.

     

            The DVD includes a commentary track with co-directors Dolby and Williams. Dolby is also credited for the screenplay. Also included are a handful of deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, and a trailer.    

     

    Entertainment Value: 5.5/10

    Quality of Filmmaking: 6/10

    Historical Significance:  3/10

    Special Features: 6.5/10

     

     

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