One Last Thing...

Director: Alex Steyermark
Screenplay: Barry Stringfellow

Cast: Cynthia Nixon, Michael Angarano, Sunny Mabrey, Michael Rispoli,
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gina Gershon, Wyclef Jean, Johnny Messner, and Ethan Hawke

Studio: Magnolia
Rating: R

First Appeared in The Music Box, June 2006, Volume 13, #6

Written by Tracy M. Rogers

The first 10 minutes of director Alex Steyermark’s One Last Thing... come across as the typical opening to yet another teen movie, but the film soon transcends itself to become something more. Although it is centered around the imminent death of 15-year-old Dylan Jamieson (Michael Angarano) and his last wish to spend a weekend with supermodel Nikki (Sunny Mabrey), One Last Thing... is geared towards adults rather than adolescents. Throughout the picture, screenwriter Barry Stringfellow considers such weighty issues as the brevity of human life, atonement for past mistakes, and the existence of an afterlife, and he does so with humor that is never crass as well as depth that is seldom seen in film today. Nothing here is as it first appears, and essentially, Steyermark and Stringfellow have interwoven numerous complex storylines — including the deaths of Nikki’s fiancé (Warren Kole) in a drunk driving incident and of Dylan’s father (the sublime Ethan Hawke) to the same disease that is about to claim his son’s life. Yet, these subplots only come to the fore in the surreal dreams of the main characters and in the hallucinations that mark Dylan’s slow mental and physical descent into full nervous system failure. Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon adds another layer to the mix with her sensitive and touching portrayal of Dylan’s harried mother who is trying to cope with losing her son at such a young age. In fact, there are no poor performances in One Last Thing.... All in all, it is a touching film that asks questions and finds a few surprising answers. ½

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Ratings

1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Viewable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2006 The Music Box