Making its world premiere in the Spotlight Narrative section of the Tribeca Festival, The Best You Can represents the first major onscreen teaming of real-life husband and wife Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick since 2004’s The Woodsman, and they remain the best reason to see this small but engaging character dramedy about boomers fighting life passing them by. It will also largely appeal to that similar demographic. Nothing wrong with that.
It is hard to believe the ever-young dancing presence of Footloose is now 66 and playing a guy with prostrate problems but, hey, everyone gets older and the sweet premise of this film written and directed by Michael J. Weithorn is that maybe it is never too late to find something new to re-energize your life, even if it seems that ship has already sailed.
Sedgwick plays Cynthia Rand, the 25-years-younger wife of Walter (Judd Hirsch) who sadly is experiencing the onset of dementia, forgetting more than he remembers. This is evidenced as a young man doing a book on the ’70s Watergate scandal attempts to interview Walter on the subject, since he was a key person working on the committee. Unfortunately, he has little recall in their first conversation, and Cynthia is increasingly concerned about him. When it appears an intruder may have been trying to break into their home one night, she mistakes him for Stan Olszewski (Bacon), a flailing security officer who is attempting to enter the home through an upstairs window simply to do his job. Once she realizes he isn’t breaking in, they strike up a conversation that leads to him asking to use the bathroom as he finds he has to pee a lot “more frequently” these days. Conveniently, she happens to be a urologist and offers to help him discover the problem. Next thing you know, he is face down on the exam table in her office with his pants down and Cynthia putting on a rubber glove to take a deep dive. In the movies, they call this “meeting cute.”
Time goes on, her problems with Walter’s decline continues, and she turns to new friend Stan for texting conversations on just about everything. In addition to his medical problems, he is having a hell of a time dealing with his 20-something daughter Sammi (Brittany O’Grady), with whom he lives. Cynthia and Stan become fast friends as they commiserate and find common ground at this point in life. When Walter perks up and invites him to join them at a restaurant in a few days, Stan accepts. However, much to Cynthia’s dismay, he shows up with a hot date who was a young grocery clerk that boldly tried to pick Stan up once when he was checking out. A jealous Cynthia clearly has other plans for her new friend, and one thing leads to another and, well, they hook up as the kids might say. Complications arise as life goes on.
That is really what The Best You Can is all about – two boomers connecting at a time in their lives when it appears it is all downhill from here. The spark between them proves otherwise, or so they think. This is something many people of a certain age may identify with, the inevitability of growing old in a society that caters to a generation to which they both don’t belong.
What makes it work is its star teaming. Sedgwick is spirited and enthusiastic in her interactions with Bacon, and she hits all the right notes even when it appears she has violated the codes of her profession and gotten too close to the patient. Bacon is always a watchable and superb actor, no matter what role he gets, and this one fits him like a glove. O’Grady is appealing too, a frustrated daughter who is also an aspiring singer. Hirsch does his usual all-pro job ,and Ray Romano even shows up briefly on Zooms as a doctor colleague of Cynthia’s.
Weithorn, whose credits are mainly TV sitcoms, delivers a human story that would be just as comfortable on television as in theaters these days, and a streamer is probably its best bet. But thanks to Bacon and Sedgwick’s easy chemistry on screen, as well as off, it is a pleasure to watch no matter how we find it.
Producers are Weithorn, Bacon, Sedgwick, Victoria Hill, Andrew Mann, and Andrew Wonder.
Title: The Best You Can
Festival: Tribeca (Spotlight Narrative)
Director-screenwriter: Michael J. Weithorn
Cast: Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Judd Hirsch, Brittany O’Grady, Ray Romano, Olivia Luccardi, Meera Rohit Kumbhani, Misha Brooks, Heather Burns, Victor Williams, Rob Benedict
Sales agent: CAA
Running time: 1 hr 43 mins
