You would probably expect a film starring Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern to be emotionally charged and rather exciting. Oddly, the film is the opposite. It's very, very slow and about as exciting as a documentary about cheese making--at least the first 75% of the film. Then, things heat up--but by then, most of the folks watching this film probably will have turned it off.
The film begins with Nicholson playing David Staebler--a rather dull man who has a Public Radio sort of show in Philadelphia. Out of the blue, his brother, who he hasn't heard from in over a decade, contacts him and tells him to come Atlantic City for some 'big deal'. Once there, the older brother, Jason (Bruce Dern), tells him about some sort of casino that he's going to be running in Hawaii--but the details are very, very vague. Most of the time, however, instead of working on this deal, Jason just hangs out in a decrepit old hotel with two women--Sally (Ellen Burstyn) and Jessica (Julie Ann Robinson). As the film progresses, the deal seems more and more vague and Jason keeps making promises to David to get him to stay--all the while Sally's mood is incredibly unstable. What comes of all this, eventually, is a bit of a shocker--but not enough to make slogging through the first 75% of the film worth your time. It is interesting to see Nicholson play such a quiet and 'normal' person but other than that, there isn't much to recommend here.
The film begins with Nicholson playing David Staebler--a rather dull man who has a Public Radio sort of show in Philadelphia. Out of the blue, his brother, who he hasn't heard from in over a decade, contacts him and tells him to come Atlantic City for some 'big deal'. Once there, the older brother, Jason (Bruce Dern), tells him about some sort of casino that he's going to be running in Hawaii--but the details are very, very vague. Most of the time, however, instead of working on this deal, Jason just hangs out in a decrepit old hotel with two women--Sally (Ellen Burstyn) and Jessica (Julie Ann Robinson). As the film progresses, the deal seems more and more vague and Jason keeps making promises to David to get him to stay--all the while Sally's mood is incredibly unstable. What comes of all this, eventually, is a bit of a shocker--but not enough to make slogging through the first 75% of the film worth your time. It is interesting to see Nicholson play such a quiet and 'normal' person but other than that, there isn't much to recommend here.