It might be cliche for me to compare “Last Looks” (2022) to “Get Shorty” or “Jackie Brown.” Or it might have been cliche for executive producer and star Charlie Hunnam to make a movie like those two from his childhood. Or it might have been cliche for Howard Michael Gould’s novel, upon which the film is based, to evoke Elmore Leonard. Regardless, it works as an above-average, inside-Hollywood whodunit, thanks to Hunnam’s low-key detective and a scenery-devouring display from thespian and murder suspect Mel Gibson (who’s still got it as an actor, despite having a screw loose in real life).
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We live in times when some take delight in exacting moral leverage over others by judging yesterday’s actions against today’s standards. Those of us who aren’t as self-certain in matters of virtue can ponder films like “Chappaquiddick,” the 2018 retelling of the 1969 car accident that killed a young lady and altered Ted Kennedy’s life. It’s fascinatingly ambiguous and will get you thinking – if you’re someone still inclined to do that. As the Kennedy machine tries to save his political career, we’re reminded that Ted isn’t the victim, the girl is. But are we really talking about the car wreck?
For most of the movie, it’s hard to watch Jake Gyllenhaal’s depiction of Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman in “Stronger” (2017) because Bauman is such a screw-up. It’s refreshing, because most person-overcomes-adversity movies are so schmaltzy, but it’s still uncomfortable to watch because he’s SUCH a screw-up, as is his whole dysfunctional, working-class Boston family. (It’s like “The Fighter” but more pathetic.) But then Bauman meets the guy who saved him (the guy in the cowboy hat). Turns out the guy gets a chance to save him all over again. Cue the schmaltz. Less refreshing. More comfortable. Not better.
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