Byrdz Nice Man ... That Sully .... Sure he has his bad days... a lot of them ! But he is learning as he goes and trying his best to be true to himself and to his friends and family. He is re-meeting his son and meeting his grandson and learning .. always learning.One of the best characters, for me, is Sully's friend Rub Squeers ... wonderfully played by Pruitt Taylor Vince. I know this character actor only as LaRouche on "The Mentalist" and found his performance outstanding. Jessica Tandy !!! What more needs to be said ?Melanie Griffith is terrific as Toby.. both flirter and flirtee with Sully.Bruce Willis is .. well .. Bruce Willis, as usual, with a bit of a twist.Even the Doberman is entertaining and the grandson is tolerable... the other crummy one is disposed of early in the story. ! All in all .. a generally good movie and worth seeing ! Bring Kleenex.

The_late_Buddy_Ryan A dissenting view—I enjoyed "Nobody's Fool" when it came out and thought I'd take another look when it turned up on streaming Netflix. Maybe it's too slight to stand up to a second viewing; despite an outstanding cast and the familiar-looking Rustbelt locations, on the small screen the storyline comes across as listless, contrived and sentimental. At this stage, Newman just seems too serene, too much of a living Buddha, to be playing a hand-to-mouth working class scrounger like Sully. Jessica Tandy is the only cast member who really seems to inhabit her character and breathes some life into the scenes she's in; by comparison, everybody else is just doing shtick of one kind or another. The out-and-out slapstick stuff—not one but two of Bruce Willis's skanky "secretaries" end up losing their clothes at a poker game—and a Capraesque subplot about a real-estate deal gone bad certainly don't contribute much. Philip Seymour Hoffman (!זיכרו לברכה) completists should be aware that he turns up briefly as a sorehead small-town cop. Newman and Richard Russo fans will surely enjoy; others should approach with reduced expectations. Just read up above that w/d Benton wanted Nick Nolte and Kim Basinger to play the Roebucks and Jeff Bridges to play Sully's son—that might've made a difference.

kenjha An aging blue-collar worker tries to bond with the adult son that he abandoned as a child. This low-key, small-town character study has its moments but it doesn't quite come together, mainly due to the shortcomings of the rambling script by director Benton. The interaction among the characters is not interesting enough to make up for the lack of a plot. Perhaps a little more humor and less sentimentality would have helped. Newman is always worth watching, but it's a little awkward watching his romantic overtures towards Griffith, more than 30 years his junior. Tandy turns in a fine farewell performance after a sixty-year career.

dansview Small, depressed working class towns are grittier than the one portrayed here. But to the script's credit, there is at least one reference to gritty reality, which was the violence of the Newman character's drunken father during Sully's (Newman)childhood.The essentially mild-mannered characters and sappy Irish flute music throughout, neutered the grit. Having said that, I still loved this film.If you stay in a small town, a portion of the same characters you knew in your childhood, will continue to populate your world. You all grow old together. Hence it was not strange to me that our main character rents a room from his old Junior High teacher. If your parents and your teachers live long enough, you will all be Senior Citizens together eventually.The character is "Nobody's Fool," because he sees through people, and even ultimately sees through himself. It took him a lifetime to arrive at this level of wisdom, and he's still working on it, but don't try to trick him. He respects honesty.What I got from this movie was that people are multi-dimensional, and a small town creates a kind of welcome interdependence, that often breeds a caring nature.Newman's character did not require acting out extreme emotion. There are many scenes of him quietly contemplating what someone just said, and what it means about himself. But he did have to portray a sort of quiet resolve about his fate, and he did it well.I also like his portrayal of a man who despite being a Senior with "a bad knee and no prospects," still longed for sex, money, love, companionship, and redemption. I'm sure there are subtle acting techniques involved in such a portrayal, that are harder than they seem.The two nudity scenes are gratuitous, but fun for men. I suppose seeing Bruce Willis shirtless may bring some joy to women.Jessica Tandy could have delivered a hackneyed portrayal of a spirited old lady, but instead balanced the traits of vulnerability and optimism perfectly.Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith played themselves basically, but that's o.k., because a lot of us enjoy their appealing screen presence.Taylor Pruitt Vance has done this role before, but that does not detract from the palpable emotion he conveys with the sad eyes of his nowhere man.Dylan Walsh brings a fresh face and attitude to the screen. His character is taking in the portrait of his boyhood home with a grain of salt and wide eyes, while he reconciles with his father. I'm o.k. with the choice of Walsh as the son, although I suppose other actors could have brought a different take. I appreciated his portrayal of a grown man who is still hurting from abandonment issues.There was plenty of good dialog too. I particularly liked a line or two from the little boy, and the exchange between Bruce Willis and Newman, when Willis says he hopes he doesn't wind up like Newman.In summary, manipulative music, "softie" characters, and a few clichés, but still a very satisfying and thoughtful picture. I highly recommend it.