Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Latest
    • Thank You
    • 4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
    • 3999. The Pianist (2002)
    • 3998. Philadelphia (1993)
    • 3997. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
    • 3996. The Green Mile (1999)
    • 3995. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
    • 3994. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
    The Mad Movie Man
    • Home
    • Blog
      • All Posts
      • Best Of The Year
        • Best Of 2015
        • Best Of 2016
        • Best Of 2017
        • Best Of 2018
        • Best Of 2019
        • Best Of 2020
        • Best Of 2021
        • Best Of 2022
      • The Decade In Review
      • Box Office Analysis
      • James Bond
      • Oscars
      • RANKED
      • Star Wars
      • The Big Questions
      • Top 10
      • World Cinema
    • Ratings
      • Top 250
      • Top 100 Foreign Films
      • Bottom 50
      • 0 – 1.9
      • 2 – 3.9
      • 4 – 5.9
      • 6 – 7.9
      • 8 – 10
    • Genres
      • Action
      • Anthology
      • Animation
      • Christmas
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Fantasy
      • Film-Noir
      • History
      • Horror
      • Kids’
      • Musical
      • Psychological
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Short
      • Silent
      • Sport
      • Superhero
      • Survival
      • Thriller
      • Western
    • Release Year
      • 2020s
      • 2010s
      • 2000s
      • 1990s
      • 1980s
      • 1970s
      • 1960s
      • 1950s
      • 1940s
      • 1930s
      • 1920s
    • Country
      • Afghanistan
      • Argentina
      • Australia
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Brazil
      • Cambodia
      • Canada
      • Chile
      • China
      • Colombia
      • Costa Rica
      • Czechoslovakia
      • Czech Republic
      • Denmark
      • East Timor
      • Faroe Islands
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Georgia
      • Greece
      • Hong Kong
      • Hungary
      • Iceland
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Ireland
      • Israel
      • Italy
      • Japan
      • Latvia
      • Lebanon
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Mexico
      • New Zealand
      • Nigeria
      • North Korea
      • Norway
      • Paraguay
      • Peru
      • Philippines
      • Poland
      • Romania
      • Russia
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • South Africa
      • Soviet Union
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • Syria
      • Taiwan
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • Uganda
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • Uruguay
      • Vietnam
      • Zambia
    • About
    The Mad Movie Man
    You are at:Home»Review»3465. The Last Bus (2021)

    3465. The Last Bus (2021)

    0
    By The Mad Movie Man on September 2, 2021 2021, 6 - 7.9, 80-89 mins, Drama, Movies Of 2021, Review, Sep 21, United Kingdom
    7.0 Sweet, but a bit too soppy
    • Acting 7.3
    • Directing 6.7
    • Story 6.9
    • User Ratings (0 Votes) 0

    Starring: Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, Grace Calder

    Director: Gillies MacKinnon

    Running Time: 88 mins


    The Last Bus is a British film about an elderly Cornish man living in John O’Groats who, after the death of his wife, makes a fateful journey to his home in Land’s End on a series of local buses.

    If you like soppy, clichéd dramas that bend nose over tail to make you weep, then you’ll certainly like The Last Bus, but that doesn’t make it the achingly beautiful drama it thinks it is. Despite an often touching performance from Timothy Spall and a screenplay with its heart in the right place, this is a film which goes totally overboard in its attempts to tug at your heartstrings.

    However, let’s start on the positive side of things, with the fact that there are a good few moments of really touching emotion here. On the whole, the more ‘dramatic’ moments of the movie are far less effective than its quietest scenes, particularly in which the screenplay allows you as the viewer to dive inside the psyche of its main character without heavy-handed dialogue.

    Above all, those are the moments in which we see Tom Harper (Spall) go to places that he once visited decades ago with his wife as they moved from Land’s End to John O’Groats, as he marvels at the way the world has changed, but how things are still recognisable.

    In that, the film plays on themes of the life cycle, with a number of moments where Tom interacts with young people coming off a little like Ingmar Bergman’s classic Wild Strawberries, albeit nowhere near as subtle and consistent.

    Subtlety is something that The Last Bus really doesn’t know how to do. It’s a sweet movie, but there are some painfully soppy moments throughout the film in which the movie tries to get you to cry or cheer through rather superficial means.

    That includes a forced conversation at a bus stop in which Tom somehow changes somebody’s entire life with just a few words, an unbearably cheesy couple of scenes in which bus passengers rally around him when things aren’t going right, and a whole lot more.

    The movie seems to be trying to pull off a story where it showcases everything that makes Britain ‘great’ and ‘bad’, but it comes off as awfully simplistic and far more disingenuous than I know was the intention.

    Those quieter, more personal moments in which the movie doesn’t try to make some big, cheesy rallying cry are far more effective, and the few which bring this film up from soppy cliché to an often touching affair. So, that’s why I’m giving The Last Bus a 7.0 overall.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    The Mad Movie Man
    • Website
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    The Mad Movie Man, AKA Anthony Cullen, writes articles and reviews about movies and the world of cinema. From January 1st, 2013 to December 31st, 2022, he watched and reviewed a movie every day. This is the blog dedicated to the project: www.madmovieman.com

    Related Posts

    8.2

    4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

    7.8

    3999. The Pianist (2002)

    8.2

    3998. Philadelphia (1993)

    Follow Me Online!
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Tumblr
    New Releases
    8.2
    December 25, 2022

    3994. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

    5.6
    December 10, 2022

    3969. Falling For Christmas (2022)

    6.9
    December 4, 2022

    3956. The People We Hate At The Wedding (2022)

    5.4
    December 3, 2022

    3954. Disenchanted (2022)

    7.4
    December 3, 2022

    3953. Meet Cute (2022)

    7.6
    November 23, 2022

    3934. Do Revenge (2022)

    7.0
    November 18, 2022

    3929. The Wonder (2022)

    6.7
    November 13, 2022

    3924. See How They Run (2022)

    Recommended Movies
    9.2
    Review
    February 1, 20150

    841. Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

    8.3
    Review
    December 25, 20140

    794. Die Hard (1988)

    8.3
    Review
    August 23, 20130

    262. The Intouchables (2011)

    8.8
    Review
    May 17, 20180

    2151. Local Bus Connection Trip The Movie (ローカル路線バス乗り継ぎの旅) (2016)

    8.0
    Review
    November 11, 20150

    1148. Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010)

    Popular Posts
    December 31, 2022

    Thank You

    8.2
    December 31, 2022

    4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

    7.8
    December 30, 2022

    3999. The Pianist (2002)

    8.2
    December 29, 2022

    3998. Philadelphia (1993)

    7.5
    December 28, 2022

    3997. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

    9.1
    December 27, 2022

    3996. The Green Mile (1999)

    7.6
    December 26, 2022

    3995. Doctor Zhivago (1965)

    © 2023 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.