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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Last Orders
Sony Pictures Classics
MPAA RATING: R for sexuality and some language
Starring
Michael Caine,
Bob Hoskins,
Tom Courtenay,
David Hemmings,
Ray Winstone,
and
Helen Mirren
A group of friends gather to mourn the death of a friend. To carry out his last wish, they embark on a journey to take his ashes from London to the sea.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Fred Schepisi
Graham Swift (novel)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Fred Schepisi
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: August 13, 2002
Video: August 13, 2002
Theatrical: December 7, 2001
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
109 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Germany / UK |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
Like finding that perfect stage of moderate drunkenness in which the senses are sharpened rather than dulled, and time passes with leisurely grace.
100
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
It's like Chekhov with a British accent.
100
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
Unassuming masterpiece about life, love and the cruel joke of old age.
100
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
A movie I loved on first sight and, even more important, love in remembrance. Taken all in all, there's only one last thing to say about it. Go.
90
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
A funny and touching film that is gorgeously acted by a British cast to rival Gosford Park's.
90
Slate
David Edelstein
Shows the dying tremors of a generation, and you might feel as if you can see every molecule, every atom give up the ghost.
90
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
The lifelong friends in Fred Schepisi's marvelous Last Orders actually seem like lifelong friends.
90
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
The movie's pace is unhurried by Hollywood standards, but it's all the richer in character detail.
90
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Gathering its forces slowly, this careful, thoughtful film, quietly but deeply moving, is dramatic without seeming to be.
90
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
Sad and lovely.
90
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Superbly adapted by Fred Schepisi from the Booker Prize-winning novel by Graham Swift, Last Orders pays quietly passionate tribute to the unsung working-class generation that fought World War II and survived to take up apparently humdrum lives.
90
Variety
David Stratton
Delicately handled and superbly textured, this fine adaptation of Graham Swift's Booker Prize-winning novel deals with all the really big subjects: love, friendship, death, life.
90
New Times (L.A.)
Luke Y. Thompson
The film's biggest strength is the same characteristic that may cause people to underrate it: that the group of friends we watch onscreen feel not like England's greatest actors showing off, but rather a group of friends who have indeed known each other for years through life's little triumphs and large tragedies.
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Too many films about the dead involve mourning, and too few involve laughter. Yet at lucky funerals there is a desire to remember the good times.
88
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Richly textured, beautifully acted.
88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
A superb film that begins with death, ends in renewal, and finds almost as much to laugh about as to cry for.
80
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Given the number of characters involved and the fact that the film flashes back and forth over a 40-year period, the film flows beautifully, thanks in large part to excellent casting and Kate Williams's fluid editing.
80
Time
Richard Schickel
Wry humor and even a certain sexiness break through the reserve of a rueful, realistic, but finally emotionally rewarding film.
80
Chicago Reader
Staff (Not Credited)
I was hooked from the start.
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
The stars ultimately carry the day, the film cumulatively builds both an emotional power and tender wisdom that's very affecting.
75
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
It is remarkably, unsentimentally dramatized by Fred Schepisi, courtesy of the pitch-perfect performances of its ensemble British cast.
75
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
It's a warm, skillful excavation of what look like ordinary lives, ones that aren't so simple once you dig a little deeper.
70
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
If truth be told, the film is less than the sum of its parts; the main problem is the fragmented narrative structure, a legacy of the literary source. Still, it's a joy to see men and women with dense life stories played by powerful actors with long and distinguished careers.
70
Film Threat
Michael Dequina
A friend called Fred Schepisi's ensemble drama "a crusty old white man's 'Joy Luck Club'" -- an assessment that isn't without some kernel of truth.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
The storytelling may be ordinary, but the cast is one of those all-star reunions.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
The actors do their best, particularly the impeccable Mirren, but Schepisi draws a shroud of chaste dullness over their scenes and lays on an energy- sapping score.
50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Good performances by a distinguished cast don't quite overcome the weaknesses of the disappointing screenplay.
50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
A ho-hum male weepie/road comedy that's worth watching mostly because of a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of England's greatest working-class actors.
50
The New Yorker
Anthony Lane
Never quite shrugs off its literary manners. [18 & 25 Feb 2002, p. 200]
40
Austin Chronicle
Steve Davis
The temporal jumps between the present and varying points in the past deprive the film of a sense of completeness; the transitions from scene to scene are largely disorienting, leaving you struggling to find your bearings.
30
Village Voice
Michael Atkinson
The carload of codgers in Fred Schepisi's Last Orders merely bellyache, philosophize, crack unfunny jokes, and ruminate simplemindedly about Death.
 The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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