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Brian Geraghty, Ed Begley Jr, Eric Balfour

THE OPTIMIST is the story of Max, a Russian clarinetist living in Los Angeles, whose life changes when Bo, looking for a hideout after a botched car heist, passes himself off as Max's long-lost son. C...( read more  read more... )omplications ensue when Bo falls in love with his newfound "sister" Lolita.

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42% liked it

81 ratings

R

Directed by: Marius Balchunas

Release Date: January 1, 2006

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DVD Release Date: December 9, 2008

Stats: 12 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (12)

  • jamilyn0276
    January 11, 2009
    jamilyn0276
    The Elder Son is the story of a young guy named Bo (Shane West). Bo and his friend Skip are con men, who are running from the law. They seek shelter from the cops, with a Russian family. Bo being a con man, convinces the father of the family, Max, that he is his long lost son. Ev...( read more)erything seems to be going along swimmingly, until Bo starts thinking of Max as his father. Worse yet, he falls in love with his fake sister, Lolita (Leelee Sobieski).
    This film was OK, I wouldn't say it was good. The story was cute. But, that con man falling for the person they are conning, has been done a thousand times. There was nothing brilliant about this movie, to pull it out of the muddled masses of those films that had been done before it.
    Shane West is easy on the eyes, but let's face it, he's not the greatest actor on the planet. Leelee Sobieski I like, she is very pretty and always seems to have a biting sarcastic side, which I can appreciate. Rade Serbedzija was good as Max, I will give him that. He played a father that loved his family very much.
    The film did have a few funny moments, but nothing spectacular. I don't know if I'd run to watch it again, but it didn't suck any of my brain cells away for watching it. If you are bored, and looking for something to kill time, The Elder Son is probably less painful to sit through, then your Debbie Downer friend's latest dissertation about the travesties in her life.
  • ileo
    December 14, 2008
    ileo
    Here's an interesting movie with a twist of humor. Good story plot. Great cast- Eric Balfour, Shane West, Leelee Sobieski, and Regina Hall. Indeed worthy!
  • Drusilla
    January 18, 2009
    Drusilla
    I don't really know where to begin.... I guess I didn't like this... let me tell you guys the whole story... I was at the video rental store and saw this movie that had Shane West and Eric Balfour (a shame that it seems like they are gonna be stuck in shitty roles forever more......( read more)) in it and told myself: HEYY HOTTIESSSS! and so as a fan of them both decided to rent it, besides it looked like a romantic comedy and I'm always up to that. The movie begins and it looks cheap (strike 1) but I told myself: 'hey, it's an indie film' and for a moment decided to give it a chance. But then I could barely understand the dialogue which means that the sound mixing had issues (strike 2). The acting wasn't bad, pretty decent actually, so I gave it another chance. But then the course of the plot started to become annoying (strike 3! OUT!!) and so I told myself, once again: 'no, this ain't working'. I couldn't stop thinking that the movie is something like 'Rachel Getting Married meets My Big Fat Greek Wedding' only that instead of using the good in those movie, they used the bad, making it terrible. The relationship between Shane West and LeeLee Sobieski was just plain weird, and they had no chemistry whatsoever, I actually found myself hating her and being absolutely neutral towards him. The scene where they start making out was absolutely forced and lacked tasted, which bothered me immensely. Then there was Eric Balfour and Regina Hall relationship, that one would've worked had they given it more depth, but they just presented it out of the blue, which angered me completely. I guess the only reason I'm rating this above just 1 star is because of the acting, Rade Serbedzija was excellent, probably the character that had more oomph in the whole story. Shane West and Eric Balfour were their usual charming selfs and that's always a plus, I actually would love to see them together in something else, in a better thought movie where their characters are actually a delight, but not in this, PLEASE! The kid's character and portrayal was funny and cute, but the plot itself was so unrreal and the movie persé was so poorly executed that I just can't really take out much good from it.

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