Who's in It: Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips, Jodie Whittaker, Richard Griffiths, Vanessa Redgrave
The Basics: O'Toole is an elderly actor who meets the niece of his even more elderly friend played by U.K. veteran Phillips. Then he spends the movie chasing the hot-bodied twentysomething girl around a couch. Figuratively speaking, of course.
What's the Deal? What's great about England is that they still make movies for old people. When they do it in the U.S., it's for some kind of high-concept Cocoon movie. But over there, they don't put their fogy actors on an ice floe and send them off to be devoured by sharks. And old movie audiences — who else goes to those weekday matinees besides the unemployed? — enjoy watching actors they've grown up with who now spend actual film time talking about their prostate issues.
Why You'll Like It: Because it's sharp and funny and grumpy when it could have given in and been sweet or tender or any of those other irritating adjectives.
Oscar Ratings, Get Ready to Give Up Courting the Kids: So let's see, if the Academy rallies behind sentimental favorite O'Toole (who's already been nominated, like, three dozen times in his life) and then nominates movies like The Queen and folks like Clint Eastwood, it'll be a very senior buffet night at the Academy Awards after-parties.
Pedigree: From writer Hanif Kureishi, who wrote My Beautiful Laundrette and director Roger Michell (Notting Hill), who's just a director, standing in front of an audience, asking them to love him.