Movie Review: The Last Movie Star (2017)

In my movie reviews, I usually try to avoid any spoilers that are not in the trailer or the first half hour of the movie. You can watch the trailer at the end of this post.

The Last Movie Star is directed by Adam Rifkin and stars Burt Reynolds, Ariel Winter, Clark Duke, Ellar Coltrane and Chevy Chase.

In The Last Movie Star, Burt Reynolds plays Vic Edwards, a character of similar age, background and filmography as Reynolds. Well, despite the slightly different name, he pretty much plays Burt Reynolds. The film even uses archive footage, his famous nude photo spread in Cosmopolitan and even inserts old Burt Reynolds into classic movie scenes with his younger self. And Burt, I mean Vic, has really gotten old. The real Burt is 82 now so presumably he was 80 or 81 when this movie was filmed. It's probably safe to guess that the character Vic Edwards is the same age.

Vic was once one of the sexiest most famous actors in the country, but now women barely acknowledge his existence as he hunches over his shopping cart purchasing frozen meals to take home and eat alone.

His house is large but with dated interior decorating. There are diagonal wood planks surrounding a large stone fireplace mantle, green carpet, a new flat screen HDTV sitting atop an old floor standing television from the late 1970s. There is gold foil wallpaper and an old disconnected 1970s-era stereo receiver. He probably regrets throwing out his old record collection What was once probably the scene of many parties in the 70s is now just the home of an old man. It's like walking through an old house at an estate sale.

Most of his friends are dead. The only one left seems to be Sonny (Chase). I don't recall if he's his manager, an agent or just a fellow actor. It doesn't matter. He is at least someone for Vic to go to for advice.

Vic gets an invitation to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Nashville International Film Festival, where they will show his classic films. Previous recipients included Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood. Sonny encourages him to attend. When he gets there he is disappointed to find out he is booked to fly coach, has a driver who never heard of him, is given a room at a cheap motel and the "festival" is run by 20-something guy in the back of a dive bar. He is more than disappointed, but aghast at being treated like this and behaves like a jerk at the Q&A. However, the bar is filled with huge fans. Some sound like they regurgitate lines straight from movie reviews. It turns out they embellished the history of the lifetime achievement award. He's the only one in four years stupid enough to accept the invite. Is it so bad? This is the only place where people appreciate his career.

Still, he's there and might as well take advantage of having a chauffeur, even if the car barely runs. It's no Trans Am. His driver is Lil (Winter), who is doing this as a favor for her brother Doug (Duke), the guy who runs the festival. Vic was born nearby in Knoxville, so he takes the opportunity to revisit old haunts with Lil, who he begins to warm up to and treat more like a long lost daughter.

The film can be sad at times, as someone once great but now old looks back on a life long gone. What does someone who had it all have to be unhappy about? It's all in the past, just stories now. He made love to so many beautiful women. Now he needs viagra.

The dream sequences where old Vic is inserted into classic Burt Reynolds films are clever. He gets to have conversations with his younger self, and look back at his younger handsomer self. He regrets that he couldn't have the more serious career of a De Niro, Nicholson or Eastwood. He was famous and his films made lots of money, but he's not the one getting awards. Well, until this lifetime achievement award.

The only problem I think I have is that I would have loved to just have him play Burt Reynolds. Other than the name, and an ethnic heritage made up for the character, it's hard to see him as anything but Burt Reynolds. They have one made-up movie, Squanto (a reference to Navajo Joe?), but otherwise it's all familiar Reynolds history in the film. If you love Burt Reynolds films, I would recommend the movie. I give it a B-, as it could be just that much better if they hadn't fictionalized the title character's name.

This film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

This trailer is the property of A24.