The leads are good, and Timothy Hutton is memorably off-putting as the pitcher's disengaged dad. But having created the aching umpire, Ponsoldt occupies him with some fairly shopworn situation.
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Off the Black
Overview
An aging, disillusioned alcoholic gets a younger friend and wants him to pose as his son at a school reunion.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
A modest drama fueled by Nick Nolte's gutsy lead performance as a disheveled 57-year-old junkyard proprietor who's been as flattened by life as the rusty old cars he crushes.
Nolte almost makes it work.
Off the Black is a small, dry, emotionally loaded short story that has been carried to film like baked fish to a platter.
Writer-director James Ponsoldt's film treats big subjects -- loneliness, coming-of-age and father-son relationships -- with such half-baked conviction, it's a wonder the screen doesn't redden with embarrassment.
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