Scent of a Woman – Martin Brest, director, 1991
JOHN: Revisiting this classic, I was able to get beyond Pacino’s in-your-face theatrics and appreciate the movie’s plot structure and genuine, if not a bit corny, theme. At first it is hard to see what the blind, alcoholic, over-bearing retired army colonel and Chris O’Donnell, his weekend caretaker—a small town fish out of Eastern prep-school water—might have to offer each other, but eventually we do.
GO, GO, GO (3 GOs out of 4)
SPANKY: This is Pacino at his peak and what a surprise to see the young boy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, wincing through what must have been his first movie role. I wouldn’t want to see this again, but, to be honest, its old-fashioned cavalcade of contrasting explosive and sentimental scenes does still work…barely. A Hollywood film about an irascible bully who proves to have a heart of gold seems particularly disheartening in a story that professes to take a stand on behalf of personal integrity.
BARK (1 BARK out of 4)
