Movie Review - Get Low

Rating: 8.5/10

As a movie lover, there are two actors who have yet to dissapoint me in anything I've seen them in. Robert Duvall is always entertaining in any film that he's a part of and always knows how to give a powerful performance. Bill Murray will forever be one of my favorite actors who can always make me laugh with the slightest facial expression or witty comment. When you combine the two, you have a fantastically funny movie, yet a movie that has heart and soul. All in all, Get Low lives on the acting of these two superb actors.

Starting off with a house that is ablaze and a man running from it, we can only assume that this man running is Felix Bush (Robert Duvall), and that at some point in the story, we will find out what's going on and why. It's really the way storytelling works. But until that time comes, the story focuses on the life of Felix Bush and what type of man he is. You can use the word rascal, you can use the word hermit, but how does he describe himself? "I am."

When Felix hears about the death of his old friend, he stops for a bit and is left to his thoughts (as it's been for 40 years) and makes the decision that he wants to have his own funeral sometime in the near future. And make it a party. While he's alive. While this would sound crazy to some, Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) is interested in the idea since with business slow (meaning no one is dying in his area), he feels that this could be a way that he makes money.

In working the details for the funeral party, Frank sends his assistant Buddy (Lucas Black) to do most of the dirty work, as in talk to Felix and figure out exactly what he wants. As Frank and Buddy work out the bigger picture for the funeral party, this causes Felix to have a new spring in his step that was unseen before. While he's making a rare appearance in town, he sees Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek) for the first time in years. With this party, Felix has one more large demand: to get Rev. Charlie Jackson (Bill Cobbs) to come and speak on Felix's behalf, only for the reason that the reverand is the only man alive who knows what happened on that night of the farmhouse fire.

All of this eventually leads up to the big day, where the truth comes out. Felix's speech seems like one that he has been practicing since the day of the event, and for once we see the man for who he really is. For every bit of foreshadowing that occured in the movie, nothing could truly prepare us for what we were meant to see and hear, but for the first time throughout the whole movie, we see Felix at peace with himself.

Get Low isn't a masterpiece by any means. It's a truly fantastic genre piece with character actors that play their roles to perfection. The one actor who truly stood out was Lucas Black, who has had smaller roles in action movies, but in this drama-type piece, he's the most entertaining person on screen that's not named Duvall or Murray. Another person to note is Aaron Schneider, who directed the film. With Get Low being his directorial debut, it seems like he's on the right path, and with his knowledge of being a cinematographer, I'm excited to see what he's coming up with next.