July 21, 2004: Secondhand Lions

So I just saw this film, and I'm recommending it. Right, right, Mister Big Film Critic, I'm not. But I liked it.

Secondhand Lions was released just last year, and, as it turns out, was even filmed near Austin. But even so, I'd never heard about it. Hello? Michael Caine? Robert Duvall? Haley Joel Osment, the kid from The Sixth Sense? Why didn't this make more of a splash?

I suspect it may be that the PG rating, and the fact that reviewers used words like "heartwarming," turned off a lot of the people who would have liked it. Well, it IS a bit goopy in places. But Caine and Duvall play the damndest old reprobates . . . living proof that if you haven't grown up by the time you're 30, nobody can make you. You could get a good one-shot out of this, or even a short campaign. Or you could just watch it for fun.

Senile delinquents. Heh.
-- Steve Jackson

[I just wanted to add a second vote for this movie -- and I did go see it in the theater, which was a wonderful experience. Steve also didn't mention that Berkeley Breathed, of "Bloom County" fame, illustrated the closing credits, so if you like his stuff, there's another small but worthy reason to give this one a rental.]
-- Andrew Hackard, Managing Editor

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