Genre Guesstimation – That’s Life (1986)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s genre has been chosen by me and we will be reviewing our favorite Oscar Nominated or Winning Movies.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Mar by sending them to andtheOscargoesto…@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Oscar Nominated or Winning Movies……….

That’s Life! Movie Poster (1986)

“Uh, I’m in great shape? Keith, did you ever hear the story about the fighter that was losing badly, you know, to the other guy? He’s getting the hell kicked out of him and he comes back to his corner between rounds, and his manager says, “Keep up the good work, kid, because the other guy isn’t laying a glove on you.” And the fighter says, “Then you better keep your eye on the referee, because somebody is kicking the sh*t out of me.” What the hell do you mean, nothing’s wrong with me? ” – Harv

Number of Times Seen – 1 (15 Mar 2022)

Brief Synopsis – As his 60th birthday approaches, an architect and his wife try to make sense of their lives.

My Take on it – I have always enjoyed films by Blake Edwards because he always knew how to blend comedic moments and dramatic ones together.

This film is no exception to that.

Jack Lemmon is great in the lead role as a man in a crisis in his life as he feels things will never get any better for him.

His wife, played by Julie Andrews is in her own crisis when she suspects that she may have Cancer.

The two of them spend the long weekend worrying about where their live swill go and the story does a nice job of reflecting how they truly must feel during these turbulent days between them.

As each of them try to make the best of their lives, they still keep secret from one another which adds to the misinterpretations due to miscommunications.

The supporting cats is also great with Lemmon’s real wife and son in small roles along with Robert Loggia and Sally Kellerman as good friends and confidants of the characters.

The story says so much about the frailty of life and how important it is to embrace the moments that we have since we never truly know what is in store for us tomorrow.

This film was nominated for Best Song for its theme song – Life in a Looking Glass which didn’t manage to win

Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – This movie was an independent production. It was predominantly financed by Blake Edwards and was produced outside of the studio system. The movie, however, was distributed by Columbia Pictures in the U.S., continuing the strong relationship that Edwards had with Columbia during the 1980s, where the studio had been the production house for many of the movies he had directed during this decade. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Close, but things could have been even more profound and something feels off throughout.

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)