One Last Thing... Movie Review

One Last Thing... was another one of those experimental films -- experimental from a business standpoint, not from an artistic one -- in which the film would be released in theaters and on DVD on the same day.

I have no idea what theaters played the film -- certainly none in my town -- but you shouldn't have much trouble finding the DVD, a medium to which this movie thoroughly belongs.

How's that? Just ask Campbell Scott what Dying Young did for his career. Despite starring alongside Julia Roberts, the movie was a disaster that sadly propelled Scott off the A-list. Why? Because it was a movie about a dude about to die. We know from the title how he's going to end up, a key distinction from other weepfests like Terms of Endearment. You just can't tell an audience: Hey, here's a character that we want you to love for 105 minutes, and you better love him quick, because at the end of that we're gonna kill him off.

One Last Thing... has the audacity to give us not only a terminally ill lead (a capable Michael Angarano), but also makes him a teenager (dying children? oh boy...) and casts One Last Thing... as a comedy. Dylan's not just dying, it turns out: He's also horny. Rather than make his last "Make-a-Wish"-like request to spend a weekend fishing with a football star, he mixes it up and wishes to spend the weekend with bratty blonde model Nikki Sinclair (Sunny Mabrey). Never mind the statutory rape, the whole premise is stillborn from the start.

Dylan has clearly made peace with his brain tumor, but he comes across as needlessly pessimistic and almost antagonistic, willfully smoking marijuana while mom (Cynthia Nixon) drives him home. Mabrey's Nikki is in even worse shape, a train wreck that we not only want Dylan to see through, we want her to get out of the movie completely. Surprisingly the most tender part of the film is the budding romance between mom and the football player whom Dylan suddenly jilts, and who turns out to be a major benefactor of his new quest for love.

Director Alex Steyermark is a complete unknown here: His last credit was as executive music producer for 2003's Pieces of April. Virtually all of his background has been in doing movie music with the exception of directing the disastrous Prey for Rock & Roll. That isn't necessarily bad, and in fact the One Last Thing... soundtrack is pretty killer.

But a couple of laughs (namely via Dylan's tagalong pals) and some sweet tunes do not a movie make. One Last Thing... is full of great intentions, but it simply never gels into anything you'd actually wish for.

And one more thing: Your mom is hot.