The Last Word (2017)

My Review

“The Last Word” is a comedy-drama film about a retired businesswoman who gets the idea of writing her own obituary. So she hires a young journalist to do the job, who discovers much more than she expects when researching the domineering woman’s life. The comedy and drama are well handled by director Mark Pellington (“U2 3D” 2007) and screenwriter Stuart Ross Fink.

Shirley MacLaine and Amanda Seyfried head the cast as the bossy entrepreneur and her writer. They have good chemistry, and MacLaine still can deliver a respectable performance after more than six decades in the picture business. Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Trouble with Harry” was her first film in 1955. The supporting cast includes Anne Heche, Philip Baker Hall, Tom Everett Scott, Thomas Sadoski, Joel Murray, and Adina Porter.

The watchable “The Last Word” was a flop at the box office for executive producers Shirley MacLaine and Amanda Seyfriend, producer Mark Pellington, Wondros, Myriad Pictures, Aaron Magnani Productions, and Bleeker Street Media. It was filmed around Los Angeles County, especially in Pasadena and Santa Clarita.