I'll See You in My Dreams

It’s been over a month since I watched this film in Edmonton, so again my observations will be brief.

Blythe Danner plays Carol, an aging widow who has just lost her dog and is looking for something to rejuvenate her boring life. The advice of her close circle of friends has not been helpful. But then two very different men come into her life and everything changes. One of those men is Lloyd (a young pool maintenance man, played by Martin Starr); the other is Bill (a lonely retired man looking for a fun companion, played by Sam Elliott). 

The chemistry between Danner and Elliott is fantastic (as are their performances), making I’ll See You in My Dreams a very enjoyable film to watch. It doesn’t hurt that it’s a well-written story about aging that defies predictability and perfectly balances humour and sadness. I’m nowhere near as old as the film’s protagonist, but the theme did connect with me. Unfortunately, while the characters were well-developed and beautifully humanized, I was ultimately disappointed with the shallowness of their lives and what gave their lives meaning. 

So the well-made (directed by Brett Haley) I’ll See You in My Dreams gets only a very solid ***. My mug is up.