mthudak Contrived, poorly written, clichéd, Too-important-for-itself. Kept watching in case there was something redeeming, but there wasn't. Ellen B's acting was superb, as always, and she is aging so gracefully. Really have nothing better to say. Unfortunate. I'm usually a sucker for these things and was really looking forward to it. I wasn't a fan of "5 People...," also felt it seemed too important for itself -- trying too hard to deliver a message, while lacking a story to do so. This however, I had higher hopes for. The previews intrigued me, the actors intrigued me, and as I said, I usually like this kinda stuff. Very disappointing.

charlytully Broken sports dreams have provided some of American movies' most poignant moments, from Field of Dreams to Resurrecting the Champ. This year's best sport flick, and one of 2007's Top Ten thus far (among the 295 films I've been able to see in theaters) is director Seth Gordon's documentary King of Kong, featuring real-life hero Steve Wiebe, a laid-off Boeing Aircraft engineer whose moment in the limelight for his high school nine's state championship try was ruined by an injury to his pitching arm, leaving his psyche nearly too fragile to take on the classic gaming establishment decades later in his successful quest to post the first legitimate million-plus Donkey Kong score in world history.Even though USA Today's TV critic panned One More Day (the official title "Oprah Winfrey presents Mitch Albom's One More Day" was automatically shortened to "Oprah Winfrey presents Mit" on my spreadsheet program; I thought she'd endorsed Obama?), I decided to make it my first made-for-TV film of 2007 because 1)I'd given 10 stars to Albom's previous TV project, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and 2)the premise echoed Steve Wiebe's story of recovering from a shattered baseball dream decades later.Unfortunately, as much as I like Mitch and baseball, I can only rate this effort 6 out of 10. Unlike Five People, you can see the twists and the supposedly Big Reveal at the end coming from nearly a mile a way here (from the center field warning track, in other words). Though Ellen Burstyn provides a little classier maternal advice to protagonist Chick (Michael Imperioli) than the 1926 Porter in the late sit-com My Mother the Car, seeing her prattling away to a former Soprano while moon-lighting as an ectoplasmic hairdresser to several of her expiring lady friends produces a kitchen klatch claustrophobia which may well have been relieved by more flashbacks to the nine years between the death of cup-of-coffee major leaguer Chick's mom and his exclusion from his only child's big day. Emily Wickersham, as Chick's grown daughter Maria, should have been given more to do; her character's typescript for her draft of "One More Day" got more air time than she did.Detroit Tigers fans will note that long-time Detroit Free Press sportswriter Albom snuck in the names of at least two long-gone bengals (Deivi Cruz and Ramon Santiago) in the background. My son still has the dollar bill Ramon signed for him at Tiger Fest years ago, but I doubt this flick will add much value to his currency.

iamthetopp Not the best movie, but I don't think it pretends to be.Michael Imperioli showed range as the lead character. It was good to see him as something other than a criminal/cop.Ellen Burstyn was graceful and elegant in her "effortless" portrayal of Michael's mother (I say effortless because she makes if look so easy, not that it is).My biggest problem with the movie came from what seemed to be gratuitous cuts to different time lines. To me it made the movie painfully choppy. The story/plot is not a complicated one, but the editing became increasingly irritating as the movie went on. For One More Day loosely reminds me of another movie that doesn't apologize for its sentimentality and uses of flashbacks to reveal its story, The Notebook. However, The Notebook makes effective use of flashbacks and knew where to draw the line.I lost my father recently, and speak to my mother regularly. This is the kind of movie that reminds us how precious the little time we all have is, and how more valuable time with our family is. Cherish the moments before they're gone.

vitaleralphlouis No doubt the author Mitch Albon wanted to say Something Important about Real People; unfortunately the author has never met any Real People and has no real life experiences at all to utilize in creating this muddle of cardboard characters and phony-baloney situations. The paramount fault with this movie is Bad Writing 101.Please don't get me wrong. I LIKE sentimental movies about real people, films that reflect solid American values. The problem is this film offers no such thing.The reason we watched was to see Michael Imperioli and his real life son in a movie post-Sopranos. Both deliver fine jobs considering the handicap inherent in the script.The story is about an alcoholic whose life is deteriorating at a rapid pace. The recommended solution (by the author) is to buy another 6 pack and drive fast & careless down the highway taking things out on the next truck driver -- an easy target -- ending up smashed into a ravine where your dead mother will come along and set you straight. Many flashbacks will take us through his utterly phony life, including his play in the World Series (gosh!), how he failed his phony father as well as his phony daughter.Excuse me, I can't go on; but I think you catch my drift.