Last Call (2002)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This is a quiet little movie that will break your heart, like everything to do with F. Scott Fitzgerald. Jeremy Irons plays an older Fitzgerald, tired and desperate and sick. (Not that old, of course; he's only in his 40's.) He's living the expensive yet shabby winding-down existence of a Hollywood Next Best Thing who has turned out to be Just Another Flop. The Golden Boy of the '20s is now sadly tarnished. Worst of all, his usually reliable muses, the women in his life, are no longer delivering inspiration right to his door.(Look for the great Sissy Spacek as she weaves lustrous silk from the flimsiest of spiderwebs.) Fitzgerald's wonderful golden talent is sputtering like a marquee light bulb ready to blink out for good. But he still has something to say – if he can only get it out. Enter Neve Campbell as a sidewalk sparrow, bright-eyed, on the lookout for crumbs, timid yet bold. Will she be able to re-ignite his creativity? If Jeremy Irons is remarkable in this picture, Neve Campbell is a revelation. A breathtaking beauty, she also shows herself to be a superb actress, able to hold her own and more with the silken-voiced Irons. This movie (also known as "Last Call") deserves to be part of every college course on 20th Century American writers.

This portrait of F. Scott Fitzgerald's last days--as a wreck, battling alcoholism and trying to write "The Last Tycoon" with considerable help from his much younger new secretary--has some digressive scenes in the middle but is primarily intelligent and involving. Jeremy Irons is excellent (though at times his Yank accent can be a bit overdone) as the past-prime author, but the surprise is that Neve Campbell (whom I haven't very often been all that impressed before) does an excellent job as the secretary seduced into this sickly, washed-up but still highly intelligent and sometimes very charming man's spell. Sissy Spacek is effective enough as Zelda Fitzgerald, although her occasional appearances as a taunting/nagging phantom of sorts are a screen writing device that doesn't totally come off. It's a fine perspective on Fitzgerald that doesn't cast him as some kind of saintly victim but gives full weight to his talent and personal weaknesses.

Checking the credits on writer/director Henry Bromell, it seems that we have someone who's written for "Chicago Hope", "Homicide" and "Northern Exposure". So a class act chooses to write about a screenplay about a writer, and the results are about what you'd expect. Pretty exceptional stuff. Jeremy Irons tosses his hat into the ring for an Emmy nom here. Another standout performance.However..the big surprise to me is the performance of Neve Campbell. Get this girl off the "Scream-4" set and into some period pieces in a big hurry, fellas. She's ready to rock and roll. Pair her up with a decent script and an Oscar-caliber actor or two and she holds her own rather nicely, thank you.Thanks to Showtime for the "Last Call" 15-minute addendum with Irons, the omni-present George Plimpton and Frances Kroll Ring briefly discussing F. Scott's greatest hits.

Neve Campbell is my favorite actress of all times. I love her in Scream trilogy and rest of her movies. She is an incredible actress and I think she should get more credit for it. This movie is different from the rest of her movie she star in. When I saw the preview i didn't think it was going to be that good. But I always try to like because Neve in it. But wrong the movie was very very interesting. I like learning about stuff that happen in the past. People don't understand how life was back then. I always hear people complain how hard life was. But if we were the people in this movie we can see that it was that easy back then. It very amazing how they went through in the movie they have fun times and emotional times and upset times so on. A very good Drama Jeremy Irons did a brilliant job in here and is very believable. Neve Campbell did an excellent job in here I wouldn't say it was her best of all her movie but it in top category. I always try to be like her. She change my life and I never will forget that, I give this movie 9 out of 10 Neve is so Cool in everything she does!!!!!!!!!!