Just saw Get Low at the local art house, and wanted to share the experience.
The plot, in case you weren’t aware of the film, is that Robert Duvall is a cranky old hermit in the hills of Tennessee who decides to throw himself a funeral/party before he dies. It is based (very, very loosely) on the story of Felix Bushall ("Uncle Bush) Breazeale, who threw himseld such a party in Cave Creek, Tennessee in 1937. The main plot affords a lot of comic opportunities, but the movie is not really a comedy. We soon learn that Duvall’s character harbors some sort of dark secret, which is hinted at throughout the movie, and revealed at the end.
Anyway, the movie features (as you would surely expect by now) a stellar performance by Duvall. Bill Murray also gives us a nice turn in a supporting role as the funeral home director.
Thankfully, Bill Murray doesn’t inflict a dreadful fake Southern accent on us. Instead, his character is written as being someone “from all over” who has spent time in Chicago, and he speaks in his normal voice. (The rest of the cast is peppered with native Southerners like Lucas Black and Sissy Spacek. So we get accents that are genuine. Black and Spacek also turn in nice performances here, Spacek as an old girlfriend of Duvall’s and Black as Murray’s conscientious protege. Lori Beth Edgeman does nice work as Black’s wife.)
I also want to praise the art direction in this movie. Really nice job, I think, of recreating 1930s Tennessee, right down to the paper on the walls and the magazines in the racks. Very nice and very detailed work.
A worthwhile movie, though the ending was a tiny bit of a letdown (IMHO). Gave it a 7 at IMDb (which seems to put me on the low end, as it currently enjoys a 7.5 overall rating). Recommended viewing.
So has anyone else seen this?