Man in the Chair (2007)

46% of critics liked it
(35 reviews)
70% of users liked it
(887 ratings)

A young man learns something about making his fantasies into reality from an older man who has already been there in this coming-of-age drama. Cameron (Michael Angarano) is a teenage film buff living in Los Angeles who dreams of making movies himself someday, an ambition that doesn't impress his… More A young man learns something about making his fantasies into reality from an older man who has already been there in this coming-of-age drama. Cameron (Michael Angarano) is a teenage film buff living in Los Angeles who dreams of making movies himself someday, an ambition that doesn't impress his parents very much. Cameron doesn't have many friends beyond fellow outcast Murphy (Joshua Boyd), and wealthy and popular classmate Brett (Taber Schroeder) takes great pleasure in making Cameron's life miserable. A major film school in L.A. has announced a competition for young filmmakers, but while Cameron has talent and ideas, Brett has the money to buy film stock and rent equipment, and Cameron wonders if he stands any chance at all. One evening, while attending a screening of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil at a revival theater, Cameron sees an elderly man who shouts at the screen about his old pal Orson. Cameron is thus introduced to Flash Madden (Christopher Plummer), who worked as a lighting man during the Golden Age of Hollywood and really did work with some of the most respected names in the business, including Welles. While cranky Flash doesn't much care for Cameron at first, in time he sees a kindred spirit in the movie-mad teenager, and offers his technical know-how and sources of equipment to the would-be director. Flash also introduces Cameron to Mickey Hopkins (M. Emmet Walsh), a former screenwriter who helped script a number of silver-screen classics but is now living in a shabby old folks' home, and in Hopkins, Cameron finds the inspiration for just the sort of movie he wants to make. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By: Michael Schroeder
Written By: Michael Schroeder
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Dec 7, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Apr 1, 2008
Studio: Outsider Films

Critic Reviews

Tasha Robinson, Chicago Tribune
By salvaging a troubled script with deep, committed, touching portrayals, Plummer and Walsh help prove Schroeder's points about how Hollywood isn't just the province of the rich, young and pretty.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The movie works so hard at juggling its clichés that it fails to generate interest in its story.
, Los Angeles Times
Though they can't transcend writer-director Michael Schroeder's pointed contrivances, the actors tap into something achingly true in this valentine to Hollywood's below-the-line crafts people and society's castoffs.
, Los Angeles Times
[An] elegant documentary.
Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter
A ramshackle but likeable story
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Once its machinery is humming, it settles into a soothing fable of a last hurrah.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
The subject is honorable, but this plea for the elderly is too cliche-ridden and manipuative
S. James Wegg, JWR
It's hard to imagine anyone other than Christopher Plummer taking on the role of Flash Madden.
Tim Evans, Sky Movies
By the end it's lost any edge and is as soft and unappealing as a geriatric incontinence pad.
Leigh Singer, Film4
Ambitious, heartfelt but, Plummer's excellent performance aside, dramatically lightweight and unconvincing.
Derek Adams, Time Out
A fair-to-middling contemporary fantasy drama that, despite its surfeit of flashy effects, is mildly charming in the way it addresses the injustice of old folk having to live out their final years in decrepit homes.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Watchable drama with a strong performance from Christopher Plummer, though the script often feels simplistic and can't quite manage the emotional punch the story deserves.
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
A movie about movies and the people who love them.
Jules Brenner, Cinema Signals
This attempt to make a film is about a guy who is attempting to make a film.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
Too slight and formulaic to amount to much.
Paul Arendt, BBC
Man In The Chair feels a bit like a high school movie project, which is appropriate since that's exactly what it's about.
Stephen Garrett, Time Out New York
Overdirected and underwritten, this litany of Hallmark Channel tropes and button-pushing sentiment uses Tinseltown treacle to gussy up an otherwise forgettable message movie about humane treatment for the elderly.
Edward Havens, FilmJerk.com
A film that probably never wouldn't have seen the light of a projector if it wasn't for some kind of "Let's get Actor X that long-deserved Oscar" grab.
Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
If you have to see this film for one reason, see it for Plummer...