[REVIEW] Any Day (2015)

Runtime: 100 Mins
Rated: PG-13
What To Expect: A suspect script is kept alive by a good cast and acting, but only for the first half

One time, Tony Soprano ranted about modern men and actors, saying half of ’em were all pussies.  He said they need to go back to the likes of Gary Cooper, who said less but meant twice as much business.  That’s kind of like Sean Bean, an actor I like.  I’m sure if this movie had a different cast it could well have been awful instead of a movie that barely manages to be average, or mediocre even.  That’s all this movie is at the end of the day and not really worth endorsing.  But it might be interesting to some, who might be fans of Sean Bean, Tom Arnold or Eva Longoria, who put the hours in here and at least don’t phone it in.  They make the best out of a severely questionable script in this little story driven drama.

It’s the old ex-con seeking redemption yarn here, with (Vian) Sean Bean released from the can after serving 12 years for beating a drunken pissant to death, viciously, after he is attacked by him at a party.  Returning to his small town, Bean finds many doors are closed for an ex-con trying to go on the straight and narrow, especially one with a violent disposition.  Vian tries for refuge through the innocence of his nephew and his single mother sister.  He also tries his luck with Eva Longoria (I mean, who the fuck wouldn’t?) and is given refuge flipping burgers by Tom Arnold, who is running a struggling diner.

That interaction with Longoria in particular, when they first meet, exposes just how bad the script for this movie truly is.  The dialogue is out of this world terrible, so bad that you can almost read it on Bean’s face (wow, they’re making me say that?)  Even so, Bean’s performance is stellar, despite being in a lowly movie like this.  I like Sean Bean and his understated stoic performances, which is exactly what’s going on here.  It’s also hard not to root for him, almost in a Rocky Balboa sort of way, as he attempts to regain his status as a man.  Tom Arnold is also in there, it’s always good to see him, in a full role too.  Not one of these super cameo jobs.  The guy has barely aged at all either!

Towards the end though this movie becomes really fucking stupid.  It loses its way and clearly hasn’t got a clue how to wrap things up.  And the allure of Eva Longoria, pasting over the cracks in this movie, can’t really make up for it either.  The ending itself is ludicrous and kind of jumps the shark.  And so, Any Day slips into maybe some other day.  With a better writer.

Not a bad attempt, despite the sheer hatred it’s getting, but so so at best.