"Get Low" - REVIEW

Somewhere in the first, more jovial half of Aaron Schneider's Get Low, Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) is asked by a radio interviewer, "How are you, sir?" to which Bush responds, "...I am." A similar answer is what best sums up this interesting but unremarkable film. Were someone to ask me directly "So how is Get Low?" I would simply pause and say, "...it is." Schneider's film, about an old hermit who wants to have a (live) funeral party so that people can tell stories about him has an interesting premise, and carries itself well for most of the ride. Duvall leads a cast of good and solid performances (save for Bill Murray, who sputters out into laziness two thirds of the way through), but neither he nor his co-stars (even Sissy Spacek) can make the film rise above its ordinary execution. Characters are put front and center here, but they aren't given a terrible amount of depth, especially Lucas Black's funeral parlor worker, who has a more prominent role than I expected.

Still, to the film's credit, its pacing is generally efficient and it never descends into territory such that it becomes bad; it settles into the category of a mildly pleasant diversion (with a few good laughs) and never strives to be anything else. The only hiccup is the ending, which feels strangely unsatisfying considering the build up. Upon further reflection, there's no reason for Felix to have his funeral party for a larger crowd of people, unless it's supposed to show us that he's eccentric. But Schneider and his writers never give us much insight into the other facets of the aging hermit; the entire film is built around Bush's confrontation with his past and his inability to communicate it in a normal way. I could make some snide remark about how the film "should have stayed six feet under," but that would be beyond overkill. This isn't offensive or poor film making/writing. It's just, to beat a rapidly dying horse, extremely ordinary and unworthy of any sort of acclaim, save for (just maaaaaaaybe) its lead performance.

Grade: C/C+