Nobody's Fool (1994)

Nobody's Fool (1994)
by Robert Benton

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VHS Tape Cover Information

Actor: Bruce Willis, Dylan Walsh, Jessica Tandy, Melanie Griffith, Paul Newman
Director: Robert Benton
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 110 minutes
Release Date: 1997-06-10
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: Paramount
Studio: Paramount

VHS Movie Reviews of Nobody's Fool (1994)

Movie Review: Less is more
Summary: 5 Stars

This is a gentle, small movie about small-town living and its citizens, particularly a blatantly unapologetic ne'er-do-well named Sully (Paul Newman) who has lived his life exactly as he wants to and manages, by optimism and the bonding in this town, to survive quite well in spite of himself.

Sully has co-existed with his former eighth-grade teacher for apparent decades (the great Jessica Tandy, in her next-to-last performance), living in an upstairs apartment and doing - when he remembers to - odd jobs for her as well as keeping an eye on her. He is constantly at odds with her stuffy bank-manager son (Josef Sommer) who wants Sully out of his mother's house; Sully is also at mild odds with several other people in town, including his ex-wife, and an uncredited performance by Bruce Willis as Carl Roebuck, a local construction-site manager who is frittering away the family fortune on trips with floozy office assistants. The cast is stuffed with excellent actors and performances, at a time when some of them were just becoming known; Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a local policeman who makes Barney Fife look competent, and Melanie Griffith, as Carl Roebuck's exasperated wife, plays an excellent foil to Sully, who banters with her as he steals her husband's snowblower with her tacit consent.

The film meanders amiably along through the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, as Sully deals with various small crises in his life and amongst the citizens of the town. There is a comfortableness about this movie that makes you want to just sit back and enjoy it; nothing momentous happens, just the normal give-and-take of a town this size, where everybody knows everybody and even the most hopeless members of the community are given plenty of slack (Sully is let out of jail to be a pallbearer at one point)and the clear affection amongst most of the community comes through plainly.

I absolutely love this little classic, and I believe it deserves to be on the shelf alongside everyone's favourite holiday movies; since it spans both Thanksgiving and Christmas, it could fit either. The tolerance and humour shown throughout the film feels as welcome as an old and well-loved article of clothing, and the fine filming is enhanced by an underplayed and sweet score by Howard Shore.

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Summary of Nobody's Fool (1994)

"Worn to perfection" is the tag line promoting this crafted character study. It describes Paul Newman, the resourceful 70-year-old lead actor, but not his character, Sully, a North Bath, New York, loner who totally emulates the negative definition of the title. Newman gives a brilliant performance (Oscar-nominated and winner of two critics circle awards) relying on his well-honed subtleties. The dramatics are simple: the return of his son (Dylan Walsh) and grandson, offering a chance to reconcile; odd jobs for a construction company he's trying to sue for an injury; and a comedic grudge match against the owner (a reserved Bruce Willis). North Bath is the kind of place, wrapped in winter (beautifully shot by John Bailey), where enemies are friends, marriages are shaky, and Hawaii is only a state of mind. This "town drama" of a blue-collar America offers the patient filmgoer a rich and rewarding experience. Another small gem from writer-director Robert Benton (Places in the Heart). --Doug Thomas

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