It Gets Old (3 Geezers, 2013)

3 Geezers has the following synopsis:

Follow actor J Kimball as he researches what it’s like to be old for a role in an upcoming movie. When he meets the residents at The Coconuts convalescent home, he quickly discovers that his perceptions of the elderly may be off from today’s reality. After being on the wrong end of some pranks, J enlists the help of his Hollywood friends to turn the tides. Mayhem ensues.

This was from the IMDB.  This is not the movie I sat through.

J.K. Simmons is a great actor, but he seems to be casually moving through this mockumentary.  His performance is so low key and disinterested it does not bode well for the film.  J Kimball tells us how the movie he agreed to be in is terrible, but he had no choice, because the screenplay was written by his brother-in-law.

It should be noted, the film is directed by Simmon’s real life wife and written by his brother-in-law.  One can only hope this is conscious self-deprecation.  It is not highly effective.

There is, by the way, no obvious turning point where Kimball seeks revenge.  He takes the old guys to Laser Tag.  But really, J.K. Simmons disappears for great lengths of the film, as it really focuses on raunchy old people jokes.  And some of the jokes are genuinely funny, though I cannot say anyone was ever asking for a recreation of the Judge Reinhold/Phoebe Cates pool sequence from Fast Times At Ridgemont High with elderly actors.

The real stars of the film are Victor (Basil Hoffman), Bernard (Lou Beatty Jr, who gets the best jokes), Rex (Will Bonaiuto) and Ruth (Beverly Polcyn).  They are who the film really follows.  If you look at the poster, of course, they do not appear.  Instead you have Tim Allen, Kevin Pollak, Randy Couture, Breckin Meyer and Fernanda Romero.  All appear for about three minutes or less.

The film wanders aimlessly and never seems to find it’s actual plot.  It feels as if the writers and director decided “lets try something we have not done before” and sucked a bunch of family and friends in for the experiment.  Sadly, it is just not successful.