User Reviews

I liked this film for many reasons, but the biggest was because there is no real justice or resolution in the short. While convention says that the plot must be done one way, the film makers decided to offer many sick and twisted turns in the film to produce a funny and very cruel film. Some may be put off my this, but it sure made me laugh.

The film begins with an adult walking down the street. He sees another adult and they recognize each other and begin to reminisce about the old days when they both lived in this town and grew up together. However, in an odd twist, as the one guy talks about how great things were, you realize this is because he took great delight in tormenting the other guy and making his life horrible. Instead of apologizing for this, the older guy chuckles as the other guy passively just stands there. Again and again, you either expect an apology or the passive guy to finally muster up the nerve to belt his tormentor. Instead, the movie ends with a sick twist and you learn that maybe in life there really is no justice and some people never get their comeuppance.

Very clever and with an edge, good acting, direction and scripting make this a comedy short you should watch.

Oddly juxtaposed with the French home-invasion suspenser "Them" at the Philadelphia Film Festival (what, is Philm Phestival too clichéd?), "Like Old Times" is the brief reunion of a married-but-separated alcoholic and his boyhood bully. Visually competent but unremarkable, it's well acted and written, with a cute gag at the end I didn't see coming. (I thought the bully would rob the drunk again, y'know, like old times.) What else to say about a seven-minute movie? The bully's t-shirt is good for a chuckle. The conversation itself seems natural and spontaneous, providing enough background to wonder whether the alkie's troubles originated in childhood.

A pleasant enough short but I'm guessing the only reason the PFF attached it to "Them" is due to that movie's brief running time. Or maybe since both deal in some way with child malcontents?