The Humbling

Parental Rating: R

Contains: Language    Violence    Sex    Adult Content    

Jill's Review

Open January 23, 2015

Runs 113 minutes

Simon Axler (Al Pacino) is an aging actor who feels he has lost his mojo. One night, when he looks down at the audience and sees blank faces and people texting, he takes a nose dive off the stage. He ends up in a rehab clinic, trying to regain control of his life. He befriends another patient (Nina Arianda) who confuses him with characters he has played and tries to hire him to kill her husband. She shows up later in hilarious ways. Once he heads home from the clinic, he starts up an affair with a sometime lesbian Pegeen (Greta Gerwig) and tries to resume a normal life. He continues his therapy via Skype and tries to keep up with his much younger lover. Sometimes, he can't tell if he is acting a scene or living it for real. He is lost without his craft. Will he climb out of the doldrums and get back on the stage?

This is an interesting movie. It kind of jumps around from serious to hilarious. Al Pacino is at his best. He does a great job. At one point, he hurts his back and ends up getting a horse tranquilizer. So funny. But, the movie is a little erratic and sometimes confusing (there are a lot of dream like sequences). However, if you are a Pacino fan, then this is some of his best work in quite a while. This might be for you.

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