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That was an excellent one.

People are voting emotionally.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

"The Greatest" feels like a Hallmark Channel movie with top A-list actors. Depending on what you think of the Hallmark Channel, this is either a compliment or an insult. As my title implies, sentimentality drives this story, not suspense or plot twists. Everything is (deliberately) predictable, meaning the actors' performances are the real attraction.The story is about a dysfunctional family dealing with mourning and the extreme ways each person handles it, mostly in unflattering ways as if to show us how NOT to handle tragedy. The plot focuses on how they slowly attempt to reconcile their differences. The father (Pierce Brosnan) plays the stereotypical head of the household who refuses to break. The mother (Susan Sarandon) plays the self-absorbed victim who feels like she's the only one who's in pain. The son/brother (Johnny Simmons) totally disconnects as if he doesn't care. And a mysterious stranger who was the secret girlfriend (Carey Mulligan) represents the objective voice of reason with her wise, tolerant perspective, never really revealing her own struggle but instead seeking to draw the others out of their respective prisons.If that description bores you, then you'll probably be bored by the movie. But if the core premise interests you, then give it a shot.Although I said there are no plot twists, there are a few interesting complications (revealed right in the beginning) which spice up the story. Themes of infidelity, drug addiction, convicted criminals and unplanned pregnancy add some interesting flavor. But those remain off to the side so not to upstage the main story.The climax and resolution comes down to a painful cliché which made me hate the movie at first, but now 24 hours later I think sometimes a cliché is the best way to make a point. I'm just mentioning that in case you have a similar reaction: give it some thought.If you are looking for other quiet movies that focus on themes of loss and grieving, I recommend "Morning" (2010) - five chapters, or days, in the life of a couple suffering a tragedy; and on the lighter side I highly recommend "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School" (2005) - the only movie that has multiple tragic deaths but manages to get your toes tapping to the Lindy Hop.

This tear-jerker was diverting enough, though it follows the usual trajectory of movies about coping with grief. 1) Death of a loved one; 2)survivors respond in different ways, causing bitter conflict; 3) something warm and fuzzy intervenes (in this case, the dead son's girlfriend gives birth to his child); 4) dramatic realizations, with many tears spent, resolve the conflict, leaving everyone sadder but wiser.So alright, I was entertained anyway. Most appealing were the youngsters, played by Carey Mulligan, Johnny Simmons, and Miles Robbins. Pierce Brosnan was interesting until the obligatory scene where he breaks down in his wife's arms, one of the more grotesque crying jags on film.Susan Sarandon had a thankless part as the mother who refuses to let everyone else mourn in peace.The brief appearance of Michael Shannon three-quarters of the way into the movie was like finding a gold coin on a vacant lot. He is just a wonderful actor.

"The Greatest" is a little known film, similar in theme to the more recent and somewhat better "Rabbit Hole", that is how a family deals with the loss of a teenage son. I watched this on Netflix, where it was predicted I would like it, as I generally like dramas about families dealing with serious problems. But it became evident almost from the start that this film was not going to be what I had hoped for.The cast was excellent, the parents played by Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan, and Carey Mulligan from "An Education". The problem with the film was the writing and directing, which happened to be the same person, Shana Feste, directing her first film, and her inexperience showed.Right away after leaving the funeral, the camera remains on the two grieving parents for at least 3 minutes with no dialog or changes of expression. Then the girlfriend (Mulligan) shows up knocking on the parents door telling them she is pregnant with their son's baby. And she wants to stay with them! They had only the one date it seems, and had sex, and she says she didn't know you could get pregnant the first time. This would be okay if she were 14 maybe, but not 18 at least. Now Susan Sarandon has decided to blame Mulligan, rather than embrace her, and her husband seems to want to almost pretend that nothing happened, all situations that seem more manufactured for dramatic impact than believability.It is only fair to mention that some of the scenes played very well, even if they didn't follow coherently from what came before. For example, when the younger brother, a druggie who seems to be able to quit awfully easily while seemingly unaffected by his brother's death, suddenly decides to bare his soul at a support group therapy session. His talk to the group moved me to a tear or two unexpectedly, but again seemed to happen too conveniently, in order to move the story along.Were this film made by someone in his or her teens, I could forgive the above problems, but this was definitely made by adults, for adults, and needed some serious revisions in the script and some scenes. I actually found myself laughing a couple of times at how ludicrous some sequences appeared. But because the story had some interesting elements, and some scenes were well done and affecting, I gave this film a generous 5 out of 10. What should have been a fine film was barely okay, and judging from some of the other reviews, many will overlook these shortcomings because as a tearjerker, it often succeeds.

First and foremost, Susan Sarandon has played this part before; many times and she never ceases to bore me. Pierce Brosnan is wonderful. He's the best thing in the movie. Carrie Mulligan's character is easy and not something that required much effort. The younger son's character is vapid and so is the character of the chick who befriends him in grief counseling. And finally, one never totally given real proof of the relationship between the character of Jennifer Ehle and Brosnan. It's vagueness is so boring...one just wants to say: "Oh for crying out loud...stop the sentimental innuendo and just lay it out there." The story is so mundane and throw-away, one almost wonders why they bothered to make this gushy and schmaltzy film anyhow. The whole thing is as if no one has ever lost kids before and no set of parents have EVER grieved the death of their child.