Pallbearer (1996)

David Schwimmer plays a drifting twentysomething who receives a telephone call out of the blue to be a pallbearer at the funeral of someone he supposedly knew in school. Trouble is, the caller has mistaken Schwimmer's character for someone else, but our hapless hero--who still lives with his mother at home--doesn't know how to say no. An encounter with the dead man's mother (Barbara Hershey) leads to a sexual relationship, while an old flame (Gwyneth Paltrow) from high school is suddenly on the horizon if only Schwimmer's loser character can quickly get his act together. This umpteenth variation on the Oedipal conflicts in Mike Nichols's The Graduate doesn't have the imagination, vitality, or authority to take classic themes about growing up all the way to the finish line. But in its brooding, comic way, it is honest about the difficulties of crossing the line into adulthood when one doesn't know how. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

It's actually not to bad, different story line, all around mistaken Identity

A little far fetched, and based around some dishonesty, but not bad. I guess I have more of a concience and would have said something up front than drag it out as Tom thompsen (David Schimmer) did, but at first I can understand him being polite in a time of grief. The main storyline of this film is Tom is asked to be a pallbearer at a high school classmates funeral. Unfortunately, Tom nor any of his friends can remember this guy. Along the way, another high school aquaintence (gwenith paltrow) come into the film as Tom's dream girl. As tom persues his dream woman, he soon finds himself entangled in wierd situation with the mother of the poor departed. The movie takes off there. I don't think this movie was ever ment to be a laugh out loud comedy, but it has some funny moments and serious ones as well. I actually enjoyed it, and I don't really care for David schwimmer, and I hate the show friends. So check it out, not to shabby. March 19, 2007

Stagnant humor and uninspired, heavy-handed direction

This is one of those movies which simply blows away a good promise after the first half-hour...

I just did not get it. The movie is directed almost completely avoid of any intention of creating humor, even in the scenes clearly written to be funny!!
October 18, 2005

God awful

This movie just couldn't decide what it wanted to be, whether a comedy, drama, or romance. At just little over an hour & a half, it felt overly long, and dragged. When plied with alcohol, I can easily fall asleep during a particularly dull movie, but I was tired as it was after having not slept well the previous night, and kept having to eat something to keep me awake during this. I never noticed it as much during Friends, but David Schwimmer has one expression and that's the irritating hangdog expression. The whole film felt like the way you feel when you're in a rush, and people are (deliberately) getting in your way, or just coming to a dead stop, and leave you walking off, muttering to yourself. The Pallbearer tries to put a different spin on a romantic comedy and fails miserably.

This film's one saving grace is the actress playing Schwimmer's mum, who's never given the decency of a name, just credited by "Tom's mother". She was in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen as Miss Baggoli, although she looked like the mum from Carrie 2 as well. She wasn't on screen apart from a couple of scenes, and she was hilarious, especially in one of her early scenes, when she opens the door to her son's room and finds one of those security chains blocking her way. The look on her face is fantastic, including her line: "What's this friggin' chain for?"

Apart from her, this film belongs on really late night TV, where no-one will ever see it. February 9, 2005

Great drama with a hint of comedy

The first time I watched this movie I was expecting an all out comedy. This is mainly due to the film's misleading ad campaign. However, despite my expectations, I found this film to be quite moving. The emotional arc the story takes is completely inverted from that of your average film. This means that the movie reaches it's peak when the viewer is at their lowest, saddest state. The story then arcs back upwards to reach a more or less rewarding resolution. If you've ever been depressed or lonely enough to find yourself relating to David Schwimmer's character here then empathy alone will pull you into the story.

If I had to pick a flaw to this film it would be that the ending is a little too hopefull. Filmmakers tend to want to wrap things up with a bow and a smile without realizing that we as viewers will accept a sad ending if it's done well. Through the course of the movie a somber tone is crafted with such skill that I desired an ending that would do justice to that mood. What comes is more of a reversal of tone that does a little bit of a disservice to all that came before. Really I'm just being critical though, in the end this is still a wonderfull movie that hasn't gotten a fair rap thanks to a blunderfull ad campaign designed to make people think this would be "Friends: The Movie" which it really isn't. Buy this DVD, you won't regret it. February 8, 2005

Not funny

The box advertises a hilarious movie. It was not bad, just not funny. May 24, 2004

More reviews at Amazon.com ...