Curmudgeons (2016) Tribeca 2016

CURMUDGEONS may very well be Danny DeVito's best film. This 16 minute short which World Premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival is funny and touching in all the right ways. Its a perfect capsule of a story that makes you want to see what happens after the film ends but leaves knowing that to say any more would wreck the carefully crafted story.

I can't really tell you what the plot is beyond saying that a young woman goes to visit her grandfather in an assisted living facility. Grandpa be moans  how after 80 years he's finally found the love of his life but that they are now being forcibly separated.

A foul mouthed charmer, CURMUDGEONS is look at the lives of some cranky people  who are just trying to find some sunshine in their declining years. Its a film that's filled with the sort of New Yorkers one is apt to find in some places in New York and Brooklyn. These are people I know and in a couple of cases the sort of people I love (perish the thought).

I think that the reason this film is DeVito's best is that unlike many of his other films there isn't the level of cruelty that hovers around in his features. DeVito's features frequently have people tormenting each other just because and it has always kept me distant from them. While there is some rude remarks thrown at the various characters, no one is really hurt by any of it because thats the way the characters are, Additionally its very clear that the rudeness is a way of venting deep hurt.

This is a super little film. It is one of the best films to have played at Tribeca and a must see.