REFLECTIONS // A FILM REVIEW OF "LAST NIGHT IN ROZZIE"
Quietly contemplative and emotionally stirring, LAST NIGHT IN ROZZIE is a tender, emotional and uneven film that examines the childhood friendship of two best friends who begin to examine their emotional scares years later as they come back into each other's lives. Ronnie (Neil Brown Jr.) is a high profile New York corporate attorney whose main client is keeping him very busy. His life is turned upside down when his childhood best friend Joey (Jeremy Sisto) contacts him and tells him that he's dying. Joey never got out of their small town and he wants to see Ronnie. So Ronnie drops everything to see his dear friend who's been missing from his life for decades. Once Ronnie gets there and the two catch up inside of the stark hospital room, Joey drops his request for his old buddy: he wants to see his son before he dies, and he needs Ronnie's help to get that done. Joey's ex-wife Pattie (Nicky Whelen) has custody of their son so Ronnie attempts to gain the friendship of Pattie as a way of hopefully reuniting the boy and his dying father.
Of course it's harder than he originally thinks (and he originally thinks it's going to be hard). Ronnie also has a history with Pattie, as they all were friends as kids and Ronnie himself held an unrequited crush on her. The film splits its time between the present day and their childhood in 1994. Ronnie slowly begins to ignore his professional life back in NYC as he gets drawn more and more into his old life and reconnecting with both Joey and Pattie. The truth of Joey and Pattie's past, and why Joey isn't allowed to see his own son, seems to be buried somewhere among the stories from each side and Ronnie finds himself caught in the middle, determined to help out the friend that saved him so many years ago.
Ryan McDonough's script wisely keeps the film as a character study and for the most part it ends up being sweetly moving. The "mystery" of their past that surrounds their interactions is fine, but isn't nearly as strong as the one-on-one meetings between the characters. Nicky Whelen turns in fine work and Neil Brown Jr. does as well, for the most part. His performance is solid, though a bit uneven, especially towards the end where the narrative shift to "shock" upsets the quiet power the film has held onto for so long. The scenes between Ronnie and his mother are also awkward, feeling like and afterthought and doesn't ever seem fully fleshed out. In the end, it's Jeremy Sisto who steals every moment he's in. As a troubled man with a troubled past, dying in a hospital bed and forced to reexamine his life, Sisto's performance is heartbreaking and powerful, easily the best thing in the film. Overall, LAST NIGHT IN ROZZIE works best in the quieter moments, the moments of reflection. But even with the scattered third act, it's a fine film of loss, love and finding closure.
GRADE: B
WRITTEN BY Ryan McDonough DIRECTED BY Sean Gannet STARRING Neil Brown Jr., Nicky Whelen, Jeremy Sisto, James DeFilippi. IN SELECT THEATRES AND ON VOD SEPTEMBER 17th. FOR MORE INFO: LAST NIGHT IN ROZZIE