Written and Directed by Neal Israel
| Starring: | Jason Bateman, C.Thomas Howell, Jonathan Silverman, Annie Potts |
|
Written and Directed by Neal Israel
|
What we`ve got here is a tight trio of friends who`ve been close since grade school, but two of our heroes have been feuding for quite some time. When Jason returns on break from his distant college to their Cleveland homeground all three want to celebrate, and the inevitable drunken party ensues, with the usual sort of inebriated confession session we`ve all seen and experienced.
Jason tops them all, however, when he announces that he`s dying and beyond all medical hope. He`s come home to pull his two fighting friends back together, and to enlist their help in his quest to travel across the country to qualify and compete on a popular TV quiz show, which may give him a small legacy-some modest but visible evidence that he was once here on Earth. C. and Jonathan go on the road trip with Jason, and encounter the usual stages of incomprehension, anger, denial, sorrow and acceptance while trying to deal with their friend`s fatal illness.
Jason provokes his best buds into a few wreckless acts along the way, but his quiet example also teaches an implied message of peace. They run across the lovely Annie midway through their journey, and she is quite pleased to wed the ill, but exuberent young man she meets in Kansas.
Jason, leader of this pack of somewhat merry pranksters, shows the rest many simple pleasures and concocts a few wild adventures, but even his energy and will have limits.
The closer they get to California, the sicker he gets, and denial can`t shield the others any longer. Upon arrival in the Southland, C. and Jonathan make up their differences and go out for their first swim in the Pacific, while Annie and Jason stay behind in the hotel. She holds him as he succumbs while viewing the sun set over that same ocean.
However, our clever boy left one last legacy to his two friends-a practical joke which Annie helps carry out, injecting much-needed humor into his funeral. Be happy, don`t mourn, is the message here. This is Jason`s true legacy!
Get out your hankies! It`s maudlin, but YMP loves this one to death!
Click Back to Return or Next Movie in Plot Category or Index