BEFORE: Cybill Shepherd carries over from "Once Upon a Crime". Really, this is the only justification I can think of for watching a stinker of a movie like that unfunny comedy, as it helps me clear "Being Rose" off the list, and today's film has been on the list for a very long time, probably four or five years. I figured I might get to it some Mother's Day, and if not, then I thought, who knows, maybe it could get me out of a linking jam someday, like if some channel aired that sequel to "The Last Picture Show", which was called "Texasville", which isn't on any of my lists right now, but, hey, it could have been. Instead it's fulfilling a purpose this year as my first official Mother's Day film, and I know the holiday isn't until Sunday, but I've still got a few more Mother-based films, and anyway we're hitting the road on Monday to drive down South and visit my mother and father. It's still weird to think they live below the Mason-Dixon line after they both spent 82 years living in Massachusetts. But look, tonight's film is about traveling a great distance to visit family, so really, it couldn't be more appropriate, maybe.
THE PLOT: A widowed ex-cop discovers that she may have a life-threatening illness, and goes on a solo road trip in a motorized wheelchair to visit her son and explore the beauty of the Southwest. On her journey, Rose meets - and falls in love with - Max, an old cowboy who comes to a crossroads of his own.
AFTER: This film calls to mind "The Straight Story", a film from 1999 about an older man traveling a long distance by lawnmower to mend his relationship with his brother. Really, if you just change "brother" to "son" and "lawnmower" to "wheelchair" you can probably see how it's essentially the same film at heart. But that other film was directed by David Lynch and got a lot of attention and an Oscar nomination, and "Being Rose", well, not so much on all those counts.
Still, it's good to see Cybill Shepherd still active, at least she was in 2017 at the age of what, 67? There are still parts for actresses over 40, like Annette Bening's still working and Diane Keaton's still getting roles - they've all had to adjust to playing older characters, duh, and maybe they don't get to pick and choose roles or they have to wait a bit longer for the right role to come along, but let's be real, "The Last Picture Show" was released in 1971 and that was 46 years before "Being Rose".
This is still a romance of sorts, because older people need love too, and her character meets a recently-divorced cowboy who couldn't make things last by marrying a woman who was 20 years younger - inevitably those two people are going to want different things out of life, or the younger wife is going to get tired of waiting for her older husband to die. Naturally, Max thinks he'll do better with a woman born in the same decade as him, and so maybe he comes on a little too strong when he sees Rose smoking marijuana and doing donuts in her wheelchair, but come on, that's somebody's dream girl, maybe even his. Max offers her a ride and so she gets a little sidetracked on her journey, but an old ranch-hand's horse farm is probably a fine place to waste a little time. (Sam Elliott was probably the second choice for the role, if James Brolin hadn't been available...)
But Rose may not be ready for a new relationship, since her husband passed away less than a year ago, and also she's a little focused on this terminal illness. So that means a roll in the hay with a cowboy isn't off the table, but a long-term thing just isn't where her head's at. The main purpose of the trip was to visit her son and try to make things right. Will's still angry with her for not letting him see his dying father in the hospital, so he feels he missed the chance to settle things before his father died, but come on, it was his father's choice to not let his son see him during his last days, so he shouldn't hold Rose responsible for that. Anyway, did Will even have time, considering his time-consuming heroin addiction?
There's almost a hypocrisy here, because Rose smokes marijuana, and her son shoots heroin, but for her it's medicinal, and now just a few years after this film was made, pot's legal in maybe half of these Un-United States now, while heroin is not. I'm actually fine with drawing the line right there, pot YES and heroin NO, except for the fact that some people might start with pot and let it become a gateway drug to harder things. Know when to say when, I guess, or just take the win on pot being legal in your state and try to be satisfied with that, I guess.
Anyway, the film is about devotion, which is a necessary thing if you decide to ride your wheelchair for a few hundred miles, rather than just taking the bus. OK, umm, why doesn't she just take the bus? She was on the bus and it broke down or something, but which is it, did she ride the wheelchair because the bus broke down, or was the wheelchair always the plan? It's a bit unclear, that's all. This is a difficult thing for some people, but part of growing old is learning how to accept the help you need from other people, whether that's a ride to another city or getting your wheelchair recharged, or taking relationship advice from the woman you met at the spa. It doesn't make you weak or less of a person if you accept someone's help.
I really should check at the end of the year which movie I watched in 2024 had the smallest box office - today's film grossed just $6,200, and that's if I round up. If you're playing along at home you can catch this one on Roku, Tubi or Freevee, and I think that last one's part of AmazonPrime, so if you have that service, you've also got Freevee. Anyway if it's streaming for free don't go into it expecting "Citizen Kane", that's all. As you may imagine, the film has a bit of a bummer ending, but won't we all?
Also starring James Brolin (last seen in "A Guy Thing"), Pam Grier (last seen in "The Man with the Iron Fists"), Cindy Pickett (last seen in "She's Having a Baby"), Julio Cesar Cedillo (last seen in "The Harder They Fall"), Erik Fellows, Amy Davidson, Aimee Williams, Mary Maxson, Delana Michaels, Mark Vasconcellos, Melissa Chambers, Price Hall, Joe Loiaza, Stephen Burhoe, Michael Guajardo, Phil Duran, Mischa DeWalt, Cassandra Rochelle Fetters, Luke Mauldin.
RATING: 5 out of 10 people crowded in the hot-tub at the spa
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