Plot Synopsis: After leaving the hospital with a battle of pneumonia, Joe May (Dennis Farina) returns to his apartment to discover he was evicted. Everybody thought he was dead, so single mother Jenny (Jamie Anne Allman) allows him to move in with her daughter, Angelina (Meredith Droeger), out of sympathy. He struggles to get his life back on track, while she struggles with the same.
Justin Oberholtzer
With the recent passing of Dennis Farina, I wanted to honor the man by reviewing one of his films. I had a few to choose from, but I went with one of his last films, “The Last Rites of Joe May”. The reason I did so was that, unlike a lot of his films, this was his project. Sure, there were other people involved (naturally), but he was the main focus. For that, this was a good choice, as he puts forth a fine performance.
As a whole, the film is underwhelming. I’ll admit my issues at first were with different expectations. I was expecting Joe May to either try to get back into the hustling scene and/or reconcile with his family. Granted, I got a mix of those, but not how I expected. The former is only hinted at by Joe Maggio (since May struggles with it),while the latter is criminally underdeveloped.
Taking the place of his own family are Jenny & Angelina, the mother and daughter who are now living in his apartment. Before I get to them, I should address how ludicrous the thought is that Joe’s landlord never contacted any hospitals to see if he was there before evicting him and getting rid of all of his belongings. I realize it was to promote how distant Joe is, but it was too much of a stretch for me. Getting past that (which was arguably minor), he does develop a relationship with the mother and daughter, which is where the film fell flat for me.
I was warming up to the idea of this bonding, as it does highlight the lonely struggles of a former con artist. My problem is his relationship with the two isn’t as strong as it should be. It’s not for a lack of trying on all the actors’ parts, but more with the script. Maggio loads the script with clichés, which would be fine if they were directed well. Instead, they come off more as bullet points than emotion.
Take for example Jenny’s abusive boyfriend, Stanley (Ian Barford). He’s a Chicago cop who uses this to break the law. He also uses it to sweep Jenny off her feet and convince her to make excuses. When Joe confronts her about him, she says he’s a good man going through some issues. After all, he just saved a mother and her child from a burning building, so he can’t be that bad (or lying, for that matter). When Joe threatens to call the police, Stanley actually utters the line, “I am the cops.”
Not only is that scenario obvious, so is Joe’s relationship with Angelina. We know he was a lousy father and, upon meeting the little girl, calls her a brat. Obviously, he’s going to develop a relationship with her, one that parallels with his pet pigeons (I kid you not). The two try their best (with the young actress shining), but the script does them no favors. Especially the sequence where he leaves her with a friend and she runs away.
I can see where people would take a liking to this film. The performances are good and the story can be engaging. For me, the drama didn’t resonate. It felt too familiar and I felt there was more to the story. Maggio seemed to be skimming the surface with Joe May’s character, never digging deeper. Maybe a relationship with his own family and more interactions with his boss, Lenny (Gary Cole), would’ve helped.
Why Should You Put This In Your Queue? The performances are good, especially from Farina. If the family drama sits well with you, you’ll probably enjoy this.
Why Shouldn’t You Put This In Your Queue? If the drama doesn’t resonate with you, the bulk of the film will feel hollow.
Matt Stetler
We lost a good one when Dennis Farina passed away recently. He always added a colorful character to whatever film he was in, be it Snatch, The Grand or even most recently his guest appearance as Nick’s dad on New Girl. He always came across to me as someone that could get easily typecast as a mobster like character, but his talents were far too impressive to allow that to happen, which is why his career saw such a wide variety of work. One of his last films was The Last Rites of Joe May, a film that without Farina in the lead role, could have easily become a real mess.
Farina plays Joe May, a small money hustler. It takes a while for the film to establish what Joe May did before he got sick and ended up in the hospital. This causes some confusion, because the movie initially makes him come across like someone who comes from importance, yet once we find out what he does to make a living, he actually becomes somewhat sheepish. His constant chasing of one last score to make himself somebody dominates most of the film, with an abusive boyfriend storyline in the backseat. Both sadly play out very stereotypical and are super heavy on the dramatics. The abusive boyfriend is the same character you’ve seen before if you’ve ever watched a Lifetime movie. I don’t blame all of this on the actor, because some the material he has to work with is just as bad. The main storyline of Joe seeking redemption isn’t terrible, but Joe Maggio must think that for us to root for Joe May he has to make him suffer to an outrageous degree. It’s not enough that he’s sick, he also has no money, he lost all his belongings when he got sick, he lost his apartment because the landlord thought he died, his bartender friend didn’t visit him in the hospital, his best friend is in a retirement home and doesn’t want to hustle anymore, he can’t sell meat, his son hates him, he doesn’t own a warm enough jacket…seriously, all of that happens to Joe May during the course of the movie. Bottom line, the guy has it rough, but Farina’s acting is so good, he keeps all this from ruining the film. Make no bones about it, it isn’t perfect, but it’s also not nearly as bad as it could have been.
While it seems like Last Rites of Joe May is heading down a dark depressing alley, it surprisingly pulls it together in the final act. It will probably be obvious to most where it’s going, but again, through Dennis Farina’s sheer will he makes you care and actually gets this film across the finish line…and I’m talking with a respectable time, not this dragging yourself across crap. I was having a hard time with Last Rites of Joe May in the early going, but Dennis Farina’s performance kept me in it and the final moments of the film was my reward for going the distance.
Why you should put this in your queue? Great performances by Dennis Farina as well as Gary Cole (of Office Space fame) and the young girl, Meredith Droeger. Also, this movie features some beautiful photography of the north side of the city of Chicago. It’s bleak yet beautiful look in the winter goes hand in hand with the character of Joe May and his life.
Why you shouldn’t put this in your queue? It relies too much on the heavy drama to move the story along and it’s slow and meandering start could put people off from wanting to continue.