Mitch Albom's for One More Day (2007 TV Movie) User Reviews

Not Disappointed

[iamthetopp · 5/10 · 9 December 2007]

Not the best movie, but I don't think it pretends to be.

Michael Imperioli showed range as the lead character. It was good to see him as something other than a criminal/cop.

Ellen Burstyn was graceful and elegant in her "effortless" portrayal of Michael's mother (I say effortless because she makes if look so easy, not that it is).

My biggest problem with the movie came from what seemed to be gratuitous cuts to different time lines. To me it made the movie painfully choppy. The story/plot is not a complicated one, but the editing became increasingly irritating as the movie went on. For One More Day loosely reminds me of another movie that doesn't apologize for its sentimentality and uses of flashbacks to reveal its story, The Notebook. However, The Notebook makes effective use of flashbacks and knew where to draw the line.

I lost my father recently, and speak to my mother regularly. This is the kind of movie that reminds us how precious the little time we all have is, and how more valuable time with our family is. Cherish the moments before they're gone.

Five People You Might Avoid on the Way Back from Heaven

[charlytully · 6/10 · 10 December 2007]

Broken sports dreams have provided some of American movies' most poignant moments, from Field of Dreams to Resurrecting the Champ. This year's best sport flick, and one of 2007's Top Ten thus far (among the 295 films I've been able to see in theaters) is director Seth Gordon's documentary King of Kong, featuring real-life hero Steve Wiebe, a laid-off Boeing Aircraft engineer whose moment in the limelight for his high school nine's state championship try was ruined by an injury to his pitching arm, leaving his psyche nearly too fragile to take on the classic gaming establishment decades later in his successful quest to post the first legitimate million-plus Donkey Kong score in world history.

Even though USA Today's TV critic panned One More Day (the official title "Oprah Winfrey presents Mitch Albom's One More Day" was automatically shortened to "Oprah Winfrey presents Mit" on my spreadsheet program; I thought she'd endorsed Obama?), I decided to make it my first made-for-TV film of 2007 because 1)I'd given 10 stars to Albom's previous TV project, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and 2)the premise echoed Steve Wiebe's story of recovering from a shattered baseball dream decades later.

Unfortunately, as much as I like Mitch and baseball, I can only rate this effort 6 out of 10. Unlike Five People, you can see the twists and the supposedly Big Reveal at the end coming from nearly a mile a way here (from the center field warning track, in other words). Though Ellen Burstyn provides a little classier maternal advice to protagonist Chick (Michael Imperioli) than the 1926 Porter in the late sit-com My Mother the Car, seeing her prattling away to a former Soprano while moon-lighting as an ectoplasmic hairdresser to several of her expiring lady friends produces a kitchen klatch claustrophobia which may well have been relieved by more flashbacks to the nine years between the death of cup-of-coffee major leaguer Chick's mom and his exclusion from his only child's big day. Emily Wickersham, as Chick's grown daughter Maria, should have been given more to do; her character's typescript for her draft of "One More Day" got more air time than she did.

Detroit Tigers fans will note that long-time Detroit Free Press sportswriter Albom snuck in the names of at least two long-gone bengals (Deivi Cruz and Ramon Santiago) in the background. My son still has the dollar bill Ramon signed for him at Tiger Fest years ago, but I doubt this flick will add much value to his currency.

Great! It's finally over.

[stuman-2 · 2/10 · 12 December 2007]

I must say that I feel as if I got taken. I mean, this movie has to rank as one of the most disappointing films I've ever endured. I did rate the movie with 2 points for Imperioli and Burstyn, but that's all I could muster, all it deserved at best. It just goes to show how far Oprah's name goes. I associate Winfrey with quality. That is why I must ask this; Did Oprah actually see this thing. I think not for if she had, it would not have been released. Certainly not have had her name put right out front with "top billing." Hard even to describe, when I feel cheated out of at least two hours waiting for something to develop. Oh well, I blame myself for not turning it off sooner.

Enjoyed it, but wasn't as swept away by it as I felt I should have been

[FilmNutgm · 10 December 2007]

I was eager to see this film since I had enjoyed "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" so much. This film just wasn't in the same ballpark--pardon the allusion to baseball since the main character's overwhelming need to re-live his brief baseball glory days is a major plot point.

Don't get me wrong: Imperioli and Burstyn give the kind of fine, heartfelt, and nuanced performances that audiences know they can count on them for.Imperioli has a way of making you feel for his character even when you want to slap some sense into him. Even though it's pretty obvious where the movie will go, there are a few surprises in the plot. So, if I was very moved by the lead performances and was already interested in the story, why didn't I like it more? Well, the framing device immediately distanced me from the movie and became an annoying intrusion as it went on. I felt the movie could have easily gone on for another half hour to flesh out key plot points. SPOILER: Also, even though I'm pretty sure the ending followed the book--I haven't read it, but the author wrote the script--, it added: A)more of the aforementioned annoying framing device of a third party narration and B)ended a film on an somewhat downbeat note that cancelled out the hopeful feelings the film had just engendered. Since I found the ending so hurried, I couldn't fully process and therefore fully feel all the emotions I feel the film wanted to elicit.

I appreciated the excellent acting and fine attention to period detail. I just wish I'd liked it more.

For One More Day-Not for One More Moment *

[edwagreen · 1/10 · 10 December 2007]

Depressing and utterly revolting film about an alcoholic former baseball player who is allowed to spend one more day with his mother. She has been dead for 9 years and he has put a gun to his head to end it all. The problem is the writing is very bad and someone should have put an end to that quickly.

Ellen Burstyn is great particularly when she has a nasty, meaty role. Unfortunately, in this film, she is too matter by the fact, going by the book mom. It just doesn't work for her. Imperioli delivers a suitable performance and his appearance as an alcoholic best describes the mess in the film.

People come and go in this film like water. One black woman appears as a ghost. Another will die that evening. To add insult to injury, Imperioli's father was thrown out years before by Burstyn when she discovered that he had committed bigamy! That's all that's missing in this clinker.

This is a story of missed opportunities and incredibly bad luck. Oprah Winfrey should have her head examined for producing such a depressing, uneven story. Even the flashback techniques in film making doesn't work here. It's too much and even confusing at times.

A major disappointment. I anticipated so much better.

An Exquisitely Mounted Fantasy-Drama that should be rerun every Mother's Day...

[Isaac5855 · 8/10 · 10 December 2007]

A richly-detailed screenplay and superb performances by the stars are the main selling points of FOR ONE MORE DAY, an exquisite and deeply moving TV fantasy about a desperate and lonely drunk named Chick Benetto,who, at the moment he is about to commit suicide, encounters the ghost of his mother, who has been dead for nine years. Still racked with guilt about not being there when his mother died, this man is given the opportunity to spend one final day with his loving mother. The intricate screenplay effectively shows the specific events in Chick's life that have led him to his suicide attempt and then flashes back and forth through various parts of his life from early childhood to his blossoming career as a professional baseball player to illustrate the downward spiral his life took, apparently affected by the separation of his parents. His mother is portrayed as a luminous free spirit whose exuberance for life was constantly being crushed by her chauvinistic Neanderthal husband who felt she was making Chick soft. The screenplay allows us to see Chick at various highs and lows during his life and allows Chick the opportunity to ask his mother all those things about his parents'separation that he never got the opportunity to ask. Emmy winner Michael Imperioli (THE SOPRANOS)delivers a powerful and delicately layered performance as the tortured Chick and Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn is luminous, as always, as the ghostly mom who materializes when her son needs her the most. OK, there were little problems I had with logic and continuity such as Mom's abilities to tend to Chick's wounds even though she is a ghost and that Imperioli is a little too young to appear to have done all the things Chick is supposed to have done, but I allowed this lovely story to envelop me in the emotions it evoked and forgive the inconsistencies. This movie should be shown annually on Mother's Day to remind us all how special our mothers are. But above all it is the sublime performances of Burstyn and Imperioli that make this such a rewarding film experience and I hope they are both remembered at Emmy time.

trite drivel

[mthudak · 3/10 · 10 December 2007]

Contrived, poorly written, clichéd, Too-important-for-itself. Kept watching in case there was something redeeming, but there wasn't. Ellen B's acting was superb, as always, and she is aging so gracefully. Really have nothing better to say. Unfortunate. I'm usually a sucker for these things and was really looking forward to it. I wasn't a fan of "5 People...," also felt it seemed too important for itself -- trying too hard to deliver a message, while lacking a story to do so. This however, I had higher hopes for. The previews intrigued me, the actors intrigued me, and as I said, I usually like this kinda stuff. Very disappointing.

Not Mitch Albom's Best

[wayno-6 · 1/10 · 4 April 2009]

I really honestly do NOT like any sport that uses a ball. I am the consummate anti-sports fan.

But this story lacked any central plot - character development was lacking -- and starkly, no music, to enhance viewing. It was bare naked, and quite ugly, imho. There was NO chemistry between the characters at all.

A lot of "time switching" present to past to? and it was a little hard to follow where I was at, at any moment in the movie....

They seem to go through the motions, but it did NOT dispel my disbelief.

Based on what I saw, I will NOT read the book. Besides not liking sports, this just didn't do anything for me. When I keep looking at the clock figuring out how much time is left, oh yeah, this isn't going to be good.

Very disappointing, considering his other two novels/movies were very good: "Tuesdays with Morrie" and "The Five People You Meet when you get to Heaven" I usually do things bass ackwards -- I see the movie first, THEN I invest the time to read the book. Pass. This one really vacuumed!

Driving Drunk to Redemption.

[vitaleralphlouis · 1/10 · 9 December 2007]

No doubt the author Mitch Albon wanted to say Something Important about Real People; unfortunately the author has never met any Real People and has no real life experiences at all to utilize in creating this muddle of cardboard characters and phony-baloney situations. The paramount fault with this movie is Bad Writing 101.

Please don't get me wrong. I LIKE sentimental movies about real people, films that reflect solid American values. The problem is this film offers no such thing.

The reason we watched was to see Michael Imperioli and his real life son in a movie post-Sopranos. Both deliver fine jobs considering the handicap inherent in the script.

The story is about an alcoholic whose life is deteriorating at a rapid pace. The recommended solution (by the author) is to buy another 6 pack and drive fast & careless down the highway taking things out on the next truck driver -- an easy target -- ending up smashed into a ravine where your dead mother will come along and set you straight. Many flashbacks will take us through his utterly phony life, including his play in the World Series (gosh!), how he failed his phony father as well as his phony daughter.

Excuse me, I can't go on; but I think you catch my drift.

Story

[Vincentiu · 30 April 2011]

For the Mitch Albom's fans it is perfect gift. The pieces of novel are present in the correct order. The feeling is same-delicate, nostalgic and warm.Michael Imperioli is the good choice. Eleen Burstyn is the perfect provocation. And the movie is the skin of last reading. Only problem, same in that cases, is the expectation. Is it only a adaptation? Is it another soup for soul? It is a madlene for deep fillings and start for different relation with parents? Is it a beautiful story about a son and his mother and picture of usually motivational literature? Is it occasion to discover another Imperioli, behind the crumbs of Soprano? Is it only a movie for rainy afternoon? No, I suppose. It is invitation to define the relation with past. Personal past. And a lesson about the delicate form to create air of a story. For people of spectacular and fake appearances.