Adopt a Sailor (2008) Reviews

• Intersections

  gradyharp2010-12-30

  Charles Evered first wrote the play on which this film is based and then turned that play into a movie, directing it with all the sensitive promise of the script. It is a pleasure to experience this little low budget Indie and be swept up in the honest manner in which it invites us to look at our lives from a different perspective. It is Fleet Week in New York, a time when sailors about to be shipped out to duty are given an evening of freedom with the option of accepting the invitation of families to invite them into their homes as a farewell. A young HM3 (navy corpsman) from Turkey Scratch, Arkansas played with poetic sensitivity by Ethan Peck (grandson of Gregory Peck) is serendipitously 'adopted' by a dysfunctional New York couple - Patricia (Bebe Neuwirth) runs a gallery and husband Richard (Peter Coyote) makes films. As Patricia responds to the sailor's wonder, 'Movies are what people what to go see, films are what you try to convince people to see' - evidence that Patricia has been supporting the marriage so that Richard doesn't have to work except to make unwanted films: the couple is nearing dissolution. Through one evening of conversation Patricia and Richard voice their failing love, the sailor maintains an innocence about life in the big city and in doing so shares some of his own small town fears and frustrations about becoming an adult- and the three people find a new look on their lives as a result. The film is at once hilarious, verbally brutal, revealing, and genuinely tender as these three people's lives intersect to find new and healthy direction. Ethan Peck is absolutely extraordinary in maintaining his innocent near-angel role, never becoming mawkish or a parody of 'Southern uneducated kids'. He is a joy throughout the film and demonstrates that he is an actor of great promise. Bebe Neuwirth and Peter Coyote are both solid and polished actors and make us examine their decadent marriage without allowing the viewer to take sides but instead to ache for both of them. The film is a jewel and speaks especially loudly about the young lads who are being sent off to war. Charles Evered is a major talent to watch. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp

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• Great Movie

  tenexe2010-05-06

  What a great movie. The 3 main characters were well written and so diverse. The writing was excellent. Extremely funny at times and heartwarming as well. It was interesting to watch people from two parallel worlds exchanging ideas and beliefs in a civil manner. It really shows that our humanity binds us more together than our differences pull us apart. Of course we would expect excellence from Peter Coyote and Bebe Neuwirth and they certainly deliver here, but Ethan Peck is excellent as well and definitely holds his own with the other gifted actors. He should have quite a career ahead of him. The direction was excellent the soundtrack was nice. There was really nothing not to like about this movie. I could definitely see it again.

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• One of those great little films you might have overlooked......

  ksdilauri2018-11-14

  .......and if you did, remedy that. The acting alone is worth investing the time. Bebe Neuwirth is an intelligent, truly unique actress---a fact supported by her many awards---and her work here is a joy to behold. She balances tender concern for the young serviceman, at the same time dealing with a complicated relationship with her offbeat husband (Peter Coyote). Coyote's character, frankly, is kind of a nut---but the actor's performance allows us to be sympathetic to him. The role of the sailor could very easily have been miscast or written one-dimensionally, but he's believable and the casting of Ethan Peck is perfect----he carries it off splendidly. This is worth a watch.

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• One that got away

  zeromostel_222012013-07-08

  This was definitely a low budget film which should not take away from its total impact. I thought the music was a bit slight and schmaltzy and the lighting made everything look rather flat and there was not much use of the camera to make dramatic moments become more exciting. It is rather static in its look. I did think often how much this reminded me of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf", and I did long for some action with movement and better editing. But it was a serviceable filming of a story that kept your attention and made you wonder what was going to happen next. So with all that said, I thought this was an excellent film with great performances. Each actor met the demands of their characters head on. The most difficult to pull off was Peter Coyotes role as the weak, neurotic husband who comes to terms with his failures. He was unlikable from the beginning, so he had to win us over from the get go. The sailer was fantastic. I loved the fact that he stayed the same all the way through, never wavering from his "gee gosh" persona. He needed to in order from the couple to see themselves as they truly are, compared to his honest character. I was dreading that he would suddenly reveal some horrible trait that made him just like them. It would of been cliché to follow the theme of "we're all a mess in this age of technology and impersonal relationships." It was odd that he had the flaw of being so shy that he couldn't even talk to the woman he wants to marry, but that could of been added to show that he is indeed not perfect as the husband accused him of being. The wife was excellent too and showed a mother instinct that you would not think she would initially have. Although it seemed plausible that she would forget about signing up for Adopt A Sailor, one would think she would of gotten a reminder call from the organization to make sure everyone was still on track. This must of been a tough film to promote as it was not edgy and full of fury and profanity, like a Mamet play, nor was it subject matter that a family would be interested in seeing. A very good art film that held your interest and made you think. How refreshing!

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• Quite obviously a play

  debdshaw602019-05-14

  I think this would be far better suited as originally intended for the stage. I love Bebe Newarth but she's acting to the back of the room and on film that's problematic. I also felt the other performances were stilted and Peck was particularly wooden. It made the other two chewing the scenery stand out MUCH more than you want in a film. I'm not familiar with the original setting of the play but feel like this would be far better suited to the WW2 era than 2008. I'm not a fan of fraught stories with unlikeable characters that have no real growth. I'm not sure it's intended to come off the way it does. It feels in tone like Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe where bystanders are forced to watch a disasterous marriage fall apart in the most uncomfortable way possible. Yet the young man sits blandly by with almost no reaction to the chaos around him. He doesn't seem polite and naive but judging. It might have benefitted from different actors and a film director rather than a theatrical director.

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