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Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Jack Lemmon recreates his Tony-nominated stage role playing a Broadway press agent who has always shied away from adult responsibilities, treating everyone--from doormen to movie stars--like the life of the party. This devil-may-care approach to living has naturally alienated Lemmon's tightly-wound son, a begrudging twenty-year-old who doesn't share his father's sense of humor. Bernard Slade adapted his play for the screen, and he's positively shameless while decorating the narrative with pure-hearted friends and doctors, a gold-plated prostitute (who receives her own tribute from a lifetime of johns at Joe Allen!), an adoring ex-wife, and Kim Cattrall as a frisky young thing who flits from father to son as if she's in the running for the prostitute's job. None of this makes much emotional or logical sense--and little of it amounts to anything substantial by the end--although Lemmon's manic, zinger-filled performance gooses the movie and brings it to a near-boil. As the embittered son, Robby Benson tries hard to bring off a dim role; his occasional success here is miraculous considering Slade never gives him a strong line of dialogue. Lemmon is reunited with his "Days of Wine and Roses" co-star Lee Remick, and they have a built-in rapport that is wonderful to see...however Jack is really the whole picture. Slade has manufactured the proceedings to slant completely in the star's favor, showing off his sass and pathos, and as a one-man vehicle for the talented actor it obviously has some worth. **1/2 from ****

A shallow Broadway press agent (Jack Lemmon) discovers he's dying. At the same time his ex-wife (Lee Remick) and their kid (Robby Benson) visit. They all try to come to terms with his impending death and bond.Sounds pretty terrible doesn't it? The script is annoyingly predictable, it goes on far too long and Benson is just horrible but this is still worth catching just for Lemmon. I've heard he did this on stage beforehand so he knew the character and plays it to perfection. He's just great from beginning to end. He was justly nominated for an Academy Award for this. Remick isn't in this much but she does wonders with a clichéd character. Also the wonderful Colleen Dewhurst was sadly underused as Lemmon's doctor. Still for Lemmon's performance alone this is worth catching. It looses points because of the predictable script and Benson's truly horrible performance.

I saw Tribute back when it first came out and i found it to be a great movie for me. I was only 22 then, but all my friends told me that i was very much like Scottie Templeton. He was so outgoing and wanted everyone to like him almost too much. But as the movie went on it became sadly obvious that he forgot to get his priorities straight. His family. Now that i am almost 50 (his age), i also have a son who is so much different to me. Just like Judd (Robbie Benson) in the movie. I can relate to both of their roles now even more as my son is very much like Judd. The thing that i got out of this movie was that i was able to make my son my first priority, no matter how different he may be to me. My favourite line was when Jack Lemmon was told in a nice way that "he treats everyone the same, no matter if you are a hooker or family'....that was it for me. Thanks Mr Lemmon and Mr. Benson for letting me better understand who i am today!!

I saw the Broadway play starring Jack Lemmon, and it was very memorable. I saw this film version of it shortly after, and it was awful! Fortunately this movie went away and no one seems to want to view it anymore, and good for that. May it rest in peace.