Probably Al Pacino's best performance of the millenium, he's so comfortable here repeating a part he played both off and on Broadway that he makes the viewer comfortable being around him, even in the rare instance when he bellows. Fired from his job as a doorman, he goes to visit fellow writer Jerry Orbach who owes him money, and between arguing over the debt, they talk about everything from how New York (particularly their Greenwich Village neighborhood) has changed, dealing with aging and feeling obsolete in a yuppie filled world, pretentious artists who think symbolism is the wave of the future of theater, and struggling in all forms of human relationships.
With two great leading men conversing and expressing what a frustrated growing aging population can't express, this ends up being a fascinating film that is 99% conversation, all of it profound and mesmerizing. The cliche of certain actors being fascinating while reading the phone book is truly the perfect metaphor in this case, and Pacino is nearly outclassed and upstaged by Orbach, better known for his stage and TV work more than movies. I would certainly call this one of the most award worthy films of the millenium, with Orbach hysterically funny telling Pacino off, deserving of praise simply for that. This could have remained 100% in the apartment and never been boring. A valentine to grumpy old men who have something justifiable to grumble about.
With two great leading men conversing and expressing what a frustrated growing aging population can't express, this ends up being a fascinating film that is 99% conversation, all of it profound and mesmerizing. The cliche of certain actors being fascinating while reading the phone book is truly the perfect metaphor in this case, and Pacino is nearly outclassed and upstaged by Orbach, better known for his stage and TV work more than movies. I would certainly call this one of the most award worthy films of the millenium, with Orbach hysterically funny telling Pacino off, deserving of praise simply for that. This could have remained 100% in the apartment and never been boring. A valentine to grumpy old men who have something justifiable to grumble about.