Review of Active Adults (2017) by Max W — 12 Dec 2017

The plot summary isn't really accurate. This isn't a movie about crumbling relationships... more like a coming of age story where you've got this young couple trying to figure out who they are (or in Malcolm's case, trying to accept the fact that he can't always stay a kid)...

And then you've got the grandparents, who are sort of dealing with the same thing. They've moved to this active adult community where their worries are supposedly gone. It's their "golden years" after all. But the things they valued about themselves back in their lives of employment and before that parenthood are not valuable here. They both are trying to find a NEW way to be valuable... to value themselves... to have purpose in their days, and they go about it in very different ways.

So the main reason I enjoyed the film is that it puts what I think is a fresh angle on the idea of aging... The challenge of getting old whether you're turning 80 or 23 is not facing your mortality but instead facing yourself. That's the thesis I'd say of the film, and it's an original and uplifting one I felt.

Also, this has a lot of comic elements like you'll find in a lot of indie dramas, but it's not the kind that makes me wince where you have some character being eccentric so everyone can laugh about how cute they are. It's the kind of humor that plays off the anxiety the film produces in you as you watch... And it does produce anxiety as it takes you into some very uncomfortable moments (shoutout to Rosie Perez for the awesome performance in my favorite scene of the film... wait for it).

Thought provoking, intelligent, funny, unpretentious and dramatic... This is a really great film. And I don't mean to oversell it. I'm not saying it's my favorite film of all time. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's on my top 5 for the year.

Lastly, I'm honestly shocked it didn't get a theatrical release or any kind of festival accolades. It's a significantly better film than any of the half dozen films I watched at Tribeca Film Festival last year, and it has more star power with Lola Kirke and Perez and Chianese (AKA Junior Soprano)... plus a pretty nuts scene with Ellen Barkin.