The Leisure Seeker's heart is in the right place but this portrait of late life slowly becomes a creaky OAP satire.
In his first English-language feature, Italian director Paolo Virzì (The First Beautiful Thing, Human Capital) struggles to tackle the thorny issue of aging with ease.
The movie coasts on the charms of its characters - Ella (Helen Mirren), a cancer patient; and her husband of 50 years, John (Donald Sutherland), a former English professor battling Alzheimer's.
The title refers to the trusty RV that helps the lovebirds tick one final trip off their bucket list as they embark on a bittersweet adventure from Massachusetts to the Hemingway House in Key West.
The well-intentioned script, which is based on Michael Zadoorian's novel, is packed with tender loving moments, particularly in one scene where Ella shows her husband slides of his family and friends in an attempt to rejuvenate his memory. But by the midway mark, each scene and situation feels too forced to go anywhere dramatically or emotionally.
When the couple's silly road trip antics step it up a gear - they are stopped by a policeman for swerving down a highway and held up by two youngsters brandishing knives - the story quickly runs out of gas.
The Leisure Seeker has tearjerker ambitions and is full of feelgood sentiment, but the half-baked shenanigans - coupled with repetitive quotes by James Joyce and Herman Melville - keep the movie in neutral.
Laura Delaney
