The Tomorrow Man (2019) – MovieMan Dan’s Guest Review
A CHARMING BUT FORGETTABLE DRAMA
Following a World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, Noble Jones’ directorial debut: “The Tomorrow Man” has now been released in select theaters across North America in the hopes of finding an older audience who may not be interested in checking out the latest summer blockbuster. Is it worth the price of admission? Should I take my parents/grandparents? Before I share my thoughts on the film, here’s a brief plot synopsis provided by the film’s distributor.
THE STORY
Ed Hemsler (John Lithgow) spends his life preparing for a disaster that may never come, and Ronnie Meisner (Blythe Danner) spends her life shopping for things she may never use. These two people will try to find love while trying not to get lost in each other’s stuff. (Pacific Northwest Pictures/Bleecker Street Media)
Trailer:
REVIEW
As a feature debut for Noble Jones, “The Tomorrow Man” is more than serviceable with solid performances from its two leads and some nice cinematography throughout *Jones is credited as the cinematographer here as well and if you take a look at his IMDB page you will see that he has had prior experience shooting various shorts in the past so it’s fitting that he made the choice to shoot his own film as well*. While largely cliched, It’s a cute movie with a big heart. However, I feel as though the script *also written by Jones* and the film itself could have certainly used some more work. “The Tomorrow Man” is a charming film but it’s also an ultimately forgettable film that I doubt I’ll remember for more than a couple days. So, what’s the problem?
For starters, the film feels quite a bit longer than what it is as not a whole lot happens here. With a run-time of a mere 94 minutes this is a pretty big problem to have. In fact, “The Tomorrow Man” is a pretty shallow film all around which is really quite disappointing especially given the subject matter and the major talents involved. All of the characters outside of our leading male are severely underwritten with a central romance that doesn’t really have much substance to it. I feel as though a lot of scenes could have used more re-writes.
John Lithgow’s character: the over prepared doomsday planner: Ed is the only one who feels like a real human being here as his character is the only one that’s fleshed out properly and given any real character traits. Blythe Danner certainly puts in the work – giving a more than solid performance – but her character is pretty one dimensional and overly boring so it doesn’t even matter in the long run. Her main character trait is that she’s a shopaholic-hoarder but this element only really comes into play during the second half of the movie to further develop a conflict between the two characters and the ideas just don’t come together well.
IN CONCLUSION / VERDICT
2.5 out of 5.0 Stars
While not a terrible film, I found “The Tomorrow Man” to be more of a mixed bag than anything else. It’s a well intentioned film with a nice message about the importance of living in the present instead of constantly worrying about what the future might bring but it’s certainly been done better before. If you’re going to see this film I would suggest waiting for a rental or going on a discount night at your local cinema. There isn’t much playing for an older crowd over the summer months but there are certainly better options.
“The Tomorrow Man” is Now Playing on select screens across North America!