Review of The Tomorrow Man (2019) by Greatmartin — 06 Jun 2019

John Lithgow and Blyth Danner are 'go to' actors who can always be depended on to make a movie just a bit better than others and sometimes give a performance that stands out from all others in the cast.

In the case of "The Tomorrow Man" the director/writer Noble Jones lets both down giving them a good setup but then leaves them astray and the actors do the best that they can but it doesn't add up to a hit.

Ed (Lithgow) and Ronnie (Danner) are septuagenarians with the former arranging a 'meet cute' episode outside a grocery store, where Ed has noticed Ronnie, that soon turns into while not quite a love story but more of awkward coming out of their shells tale.

Ed and Ronnie are hoarders but Ed is hoarding for the future apocalypse in a well-organized manner while Ronnie is hoarding because of past events without a system to talk about. There are quiet scenes of Ed and Ronnie on a couch eating popcorn and watching television or Ed bringing her flowers or she spooning him, both fully dressed There is one scene, in particular, when Noble Jones, the screenwriter, lets his whole cast down by having Ed bring Ronnie, introducing her as his girlfriend, to a Thanksgiving Dinner given by son Brian (Derek Cecil), Brian's wife Janet (Katie Aselton) with their daughter Jeanine, (Sophie Thatcher) that just falls flat when it should have shown us more about Ed and his way of thinking.

"The Tomorrow Man" could have been, should have been, an interesting story of septuagenarians as the two actors playing them brought the charm they have as actors but weren't allowed to the get into the whys of the 'baggage' we all bring to relationships when we are older.

Nor could I buy the ending even though I know one should check their logic at the door when walking into a movie! Oh yes, let's not forget the role Wendy Makkena plays bringing a real dumb angle to the whole thing.