What’s It About
Indebted to the mob, two movie producers try to save themselves by setting up an aging actor for an insurance scam.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
DeNiro, Freeman, Jones, and Griffin. How did they get all these great stars to be in such a lackluster and corny movie? The Comeback Trail should have been an excellent comedy with actors at the top of their game. Instead, we got a Three Stooges throwback with Home Alone-ish type of scenarios. The film, based in 1974, centers around two producers, Max Barber (DeNiro) and his nephew Dr. Walter Creason played by Zach Braff. They are in debt to Reggie Fontaine (Freeman), a gangster willing to kill Max if he doesn’t pay him back. Max has the awful idea of using the retired, world-famous cowboy star, Duke Montana. Hoping the lead would get killed while attempting his own stunts, Max could collect the insurance money, pay back Fontaine, and continue producing horrible B-movies. It seems like a simple enough premise, but instead of writing a decent comedy, they opted for foul language and slap-stick. Duke is depressed and tries to kill himself. Fontaine wants to kill Max if he doesn’t pay what he owes in 48-hours, and his nephew Walter is unaware of all of it. If The Comeback Trail would have actually been released in 1974, I’m sure it would have been a runaway hit. But this is 2021, and watching an old guy get banged around for an hour loses its appeal after the first wack on the head. The script isn’t much better. There are several times when it becomes so cringeworthy, you start feeling sorry for the actors and wondering if they did this out of boredom or they owe someone a massive favor. Either way, considering the cast involved, this should have been a much better film.
OUR RATING – THE WRONG TRAIL 3
MEDIA
- Genre – Comedy
- Street date
- Digital –
- DVD/Blu-Ray
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2.39:1
- Sound – English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
- Subtitles – English SDH
Extras
- none