Audax Films, Big Shoes Media, Celerity Pictures,
Richard Gere, Dakota Fanning, Theo James, Clarke Peters
Franny (Richard Gere) was close friends with a young couple, but a tragic accident killed both the husband and wife. Franny has done very well for himself and is very wealthy, but plagued with guilt for what he thinks is his fault, so he injects himself in the life of the family’s daughter, Olivia (Dakota Fanning) and her new husband Luke (Theo James). By trying to help them in every way he finds it doesn’t remove the guilt and simply makes things worse and worse.
This is another flawed movie, sorry to say. Richard Gere gives a really good performance, but it appears the whole movie was written about him. There is incessant narration instead of dialog, and the other characters are really shorted in the rest of the movie. They should have a lot to add, but they are not given a chance to perform. It’s a shame, as with a little tweaking of the script, this could have been a much better film. It’s funny, in a way, that Richard Gere here played a Al Pacino role. He was so Al Pacinoish that when I remember it back, I see Al Pacino rather than Richard Gere in my mind. Not this Richard did not do a good job, he really did, but this role was built for Pacino. Anyway, the film ends up being kind of slow and low energy and a bit over the top. I didn’t particularly enjoy it as it is, and as I have said, it’s a shame, as with a bit of additional work on the script, they could have made a good movie. The story has potential, but the opportunity was wasted. Not really recommended unless you are a huge Richard Gere fan. Not enough to make up for the flaws.
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