The Pallbearer (1996)
After watching the preview, I thought I was in for a silly comedy banking on David Schwimmer’s popularity from FRIENDS. If anyone’s about to pass it up because of that impression, think again. There’s quite a bit of humor in the film, but it’s not really a comedy. It’s a portion of a young man’s life as he flounders and searches for meaning. There’s far more drama in the film than comedy, but, like life, lighter bits carry you through.
David is the only single one in his trio of friends, with Michael Vartan and Toni Collette married, and Michael Rapaport and Bitty Schram engaged. David still lives with his mother, Carol Kane, and feels left out of the flow of life. While parts of him are still immature, he wants to grow up and evolve. One day, he gets a mysterious phone call from Barbara Hershey, informing him that her son has committed suicide and she wishes David to be a pallbearer at the funeral. She’s under the impression they were best friends, but David doesn’t even remember who her son was.
There are parts of this movie that are so realistic, it’s painful. David completely masters the look of humiliation, and he’ll break your heart with each stumbling block. He applies for a job at the start of the movie, and when asked where he sees himself in five years, he makes a joke and says he hopes to be moved out of his mom’s house. You can smell his desperation. When he moves in to kiss Gwyneth Paltrow after a double date gone wrong, they bump foreheads instead. She apologizes for sending the wrong signal, and the look on David’s face is just heartbreaking. I know FRIENDS made him a very wealthy man, but I wish he’d made more movies. He has impeccable comic timing, and can also balance drama with startling realism.
More Gwyneth Paltrow movies here!
David is the only single one in his trio of friends, with Michael Vartan and Toni Collette married, and Michael Rapaport and Bitty Schram engaged. David still lives with his mother, Carol Kane, and feels left out of the flow of life. While parts of him are still immature, he wants to grow up and evolve. One day, he gets a mysterious phone call from Barbara Hershey, informing him that her son has committed suicide and she wishes David to be a pallbearer at the funeral. She’s under the impression they were best friends, but David doesn’t even remember who her son was.
There are parts of this movie that are so realistic, it’s painful. David completely masters the look of humiliation, and he’ll break your heart with each stumbling block. He applies for a job at the start of the movie, and when asked where he sees himself in five years, he makes a joke and says he hopes to be moved out of his mom’s house. You can smell his desperation. When he moves in to kiss Gwyneth Paltrow after a double date gone wrong, they bump foreheads instead. She apologizes for sending the wrong signal, and the look on David’s face is just heartbreaking. I know FRIENDS made him a very wealthy man, but I wish he’d made more movies. He has impeccable comic timing, and can also balance drama with startling realism.
More Gwyneth Paltrow movies here!