I just saw this film at the phoenix film festival today and loved it. The synopsis was listed in our program as "an old Shakespearean actor invites his three children to his suicide party". I wasn't sure if I was going to see it because when I read about it I liked the idea of a "suicide party" it sounded very interesting to me, but "old Shakespearean actor" had me worried that the film would be kind of dry and boring. But I decided to give it a try. I am glad that I did. It was not dry and boring in the least, that dialogue was great, funny in a clever way, but not pretentious and difficult to understand. Peter Falk was terrific in this role, he stole the show. I also was pleasantly surprised by Laura San Giacomo's performance, usually she bugs me, but I enjoyed watching her in this film very much. I think Judge Reinhold's part could have been done better by another actor, at times he seemed kind of cheesy and it looked like acting, not like you were just watching this character. But the movie was so good I was able to forgive one actor's awkwardness. I would recommend this film to anyone and have already told a few people to see it as soon as it is available to the general public. Who knew suicide could be so hilarious?
Review of Checking Out
