The Last Word (2008)

A man (Bentley) who makes his living composing other people's suicide notes enters into a romance with the sister (Ryder) of a recent client.

Director:

Geoffrey Haley

Writer:

Geoffrey Haley

Stars:

Wes Bentley, Winona Ryder, Ray Romano

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Wes Bentley	...	Evan
Winona Ryder	...	Charlotte
Ray Romano	...	Abel
Gina Hecht	...	Hilde
A.J. Trauth	...	Greg
Katherine Boecher	...	Clara
John Billingsley	...	Brady
Alison Moir	...	Susan
Mickey Mickey	...	Robin (as Mickey Ewan)
Kurt Caceres	...	Sammy
Allan Rich	...	Francis
Richard Riehle	...	Man at Gorge
Michael Cornacchia	...	Client
Ivar Brogger	...	Priest
Jules Adrianna Sorensen	...	House of Pies Waitress

Storyline

Evan keeps to himself, almost without affect. He's 30, a former foster child, living alone, writing suicide notes for people. He attends a client's funeral and meets Charlotte, the client's sister. She pursues Evan; he's silent about his real work and invents a friendship with the brother. About the same time, Evan starts working with Abel, a new client, a composer of phone-waiting music who's depressed. Evan confides in Abel about Charlotte as she begins to draw him out. Crises await the self-contained Evan: his relationship with Charlotte is based on a lie, and his incipient friendship with Abel is headed toward suicide. Are more dead ends ahead?

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Plot Keywords:

suicide note | kissing | masturbation | writer | wire cutter | 

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Taglines:

A romantic comedy where opposites distract.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 April 2010 (Romania)

Also Known As:

A Última Palavra

Filming Locations:

Bar 107 - 107 W. 4th Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Deviant Films,Dreamz

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min (European Film Market)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to an interview he gave to the New York Times in 2010, this movie was made during the middle of Wes Bentley's decade-long, extremely serious addiction to cocaine and heroin. He said in that interview that he only accepted any movie roles during that time so that he would have money to buy enough drugs.

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Goofs

In the diner scene near the beginning of the movie, Charlotte is not wearing a necklace. When she drops Evan off at his apartment after their rendezvous, she is wearing a large pearl necklace.

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Quotes

Evan: That's your stress therapy, scaring babies?
Abel: Well I also do breathing exercises.

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Soundtracks

Wicked
Written by Kendall Marsh
Performed Kendall Marsh
Courtesy of Mental Music Productions, Inc.

User Reviews

Unpredictably Beautiful

'The Last Word'(2008), starring my mate Winnie and one Wes Bentley (of 'American Beauty' fame), I read the description on IMDb.com, it went a little something, actually, exactly like this:

"A man (Bentley) who makes his living composing other people's suicide notes enters into a romance with the sister (Ryder) of a recent client." Hmmmm, I thought!

I added it to my favourites so that I could go back and watch should the mood take me, anyway it did, I've just watched it, and now I'm writing this.

Bentley plays Evan… I must say that this was the first thing i've enjoyed seeing Wes Bentley in since 'American Beauty'. Probably because his character in this movie is pretty much an older Ricky Fitz! Evan is a loner, poetically deep, interesting and intriguing… Had an abusive father… Yadda-yadda-yadda.

Evan writes suicide notes (hence the title: 'The Last Word') for clients who've contacted him through his website. One of Evan's current clients is a guy called Abel, played by 'Everyone Love's Raymond's Ray Romano.

I've never seen Ray Romano play any other character before and I really enjoyed his performance in this film. Abel's friendship with Evan grows during Evan's developing relationship with Ryder's character Charlotte.

I never knew this movie existed before this weekend, and everything in it is subtle and yet achieves maximum impact.'The Last Word' is unpredictable, funny, honest and sad. Well it's not very sad per say, considering it's main theme is death! But for a piece which walks hand in hand with suicide it is actually quite light, yet not at all offensive or disrespectful. It follows Evan's story and it has a happy ending. It's the type of film that I don't plan to watch again, but probably will do, and probably more than once.

In my opinion this movie is a wee gem. It's strangely beautiful, a bit like that carrier bag blowing in the wind! I recommend it.

I even feel a need to make a shout out to the guy who wrote and directed this movie, his name is Geoffrey Haley. He has two writing credits to his name, one short film and this one being his only feature film. His greatest plethora of work takes place within the camera and electrical department; if you check out his film credentials on IMDb, he has over 80 for camera and electrical, steadicam operations being his apparent forte. You will no doubt recognise a lot of the films Haley has worked on, one of which was 'American Beauty'…

Swings and roundabouts folks. Swings and roundabouts.