Review of The Humbling (2014) by Stephen R — 28 Apr 2015

BAsed on lukewarm reviews and having not really even heard about this, I kept waiting for it to suck....and from someone who doesn't watch a lot of slow quirky character romantic dramedies shot on shaky style low budget camera, it never did for me....which is to say I enjoyed this flawed but endearing and sometimes very funny somewhat super star little movie...mostly cuz of Al Pacino in his greatest role in many a year, understated and real...indie darling Greta Gerwig is of course adorable and strong as the believable and confused and lovable female...one complaint is all the women in this are a mess but then again so are the guys...its a neurotic movie by Philil Roth adapted by great legendary screenwriter Buck Henry (The Graduate, The Player and much more)....

For obvious reason, I would either likely love or hate a tale of a neurotic slightly sucidical actor with a propensity for being attracted to strong wacky females who love cats...and when said character is played by someone I often tout as one of my favorite actors, Pacino, well yeah.

The supporting cast are strong in spite of mostly not having giant roles and Barry Levinson does a decent directorial job altho it does drag in parts and get annoying as expected from a mostly hand held feeling movie by philip roth with little to no plot.

And the obvious comparison to BIRDMAN which understandable overshadowed THE HUMBLING are warranted...it is also less pretentious and showy than Birdman and in some ways the lack of the superhero element (which was not used as well in that movie as it could have been anyway).

With some greta acting, some relatable dialogue that is often spit worthily funny and some real sadness and grit underneath, this is worth a look if you like this sort of thing....