rpbauer Maybe it was the great, eclectic soundtrack with the likes of Django Reinhardt, Herbie Hancock, Perry Como, Curtis Mayfield, Neil Young and Richie Havens, or maybe it was the dark and subtle bits of humor that pleasantly surprised me throughout the movie, but I really enjoyed this one.We meet Tom, a forlorn twenty-something man-child still living at home and struggling to take control of his life, played by David Schwimmer of "Friends" fame. Tom gets a call from a woman who mistakenly believes he knew her recently deceased son. He goes along with it, presumably to save her the added grief of knowing her son had no close friends. Of course, Tom's accommodating nature backfires and he's asked to give the eulogy for a man he never knew. This sets up a scene with the kind of dark humor seen throughout the movie that audiences are either delighted with or immediately turned off by.At the funeral, Tom meets Julie, his unrequited high school crush, played with genuine emotion and winsome grace by Gwyneth Paltrow. Thus begins two relationships that play out over the duration of the film --one with Grace, the bereft mother of the friend Tom never had, played by Barbara Hershey, and the other with Julie.Yes, this movie owes much, in terms of plot and characters, to "The Graduate," with Hershey playing the counterpart to Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson. But it turns out to be much more than just an update of the '60s classic. The audience really gets to know the inner turmoil both Tom and Julie are going through -- Tom, both for the guilt of becoming unwittingly involved with Grace, and for also being involved with Julie at the same time, and Julie, for being torn between striking out on her own to escape her overbearing parents and getting into a deep relationship with Tom.There are a couple of sideplots going on with Tom's friends -- Michael Rapaport's character getting married to a woman his friends don't like, and Michael Vardan's married character, making a move on Julie, which obviously infuriates Tom. And Carol Kane as Tom's mom, is precious. In one scene, he is livid after she bursts into his room unannounced. After she receives a brief scolding for not knocking, she replies "I only wanted to see if you wanted some ice cream," to which he replies "A little." Schwimmer nails the role, with his underplayed, tacit sadness about his so-far-failed attempt at making a responsible life for himself. And Paltrow, well, can she ever miss? Whether for the dark humor, spot-on acting, or superb soundtrack, this one is definitely worth a viewing.

Ray Girvan SPOILER AHEAD! I never watched Friends, and I appreciate that the film's flavour will for many viewers will be overlaid with Schwimmer's earlier persona. Viewing it in isolation as I did, I found it a staple comedy scenario: the excruciating complications that arise from a character's lack of assertiveness in failing to admit a situation of mistaken identity. However, the joke grows increasingly uncomfortable: for Tom, this unassertiveness is pathological, related to his failure to grow up. His friends have careers and relationships, but he still lives with his mother, jobless and fixated on a woman he liked at school. In real life, it would be inconceivable for such a person to end up with Gwyneth Paltrow, and the film doesn't strain our disbelief in this respect. This is less a romantic comedy than a rite-of-passage story, Tom beginning (we hope) a belated journey to adulthood.

pips55 Upon first viewing of this film at release I wasn't much impressed, but upon a recent second viewing (and because I liked it so much a third viewing as well) I have decided that this film is not only well written and well acted (despite what characters the actors may have played before, it works) it deserves to be in my personal top ten. Gwyneth Paltrow plays a 24 year old in search for identity, and it may just be my generation's quintessential "I've had a job for a few years and hate it" "I've just graduated and can't find a job" "Everyone I know is still living with their parents" "Dealing with best friends getting married" movie. Sure, it's heartwarming, but that doesn't take away from wonderfully crafted scenes with perfect poignancy and a good soundtrack to boot. There are also good performances by Toni Collette, Michael Vartan and Michael Rapaport. I highly reccommend seeing this film.

budikavlan The tone of this film is really difficult to convey on paper. It manages to successfully capture the elusive appeal that David Schwimmer has from time to time; it's easy for his sad-sack personality to grow annoying and pathetic, but this script managed to walk that line. The scenes of embarrassment and shame never seem overdone or cheap, and serve the story well. I especially like the down-to-earth, realistic beauty that Gwyneth Paltrow always brings to a role; she never seems like a movie star playing a real person. Because of Schwimmer's brief tenure as a star with buzz, this was seen as a box office failure, but it was never the kind of movie likely to rake in huge bucks. For what it is, a small, thoughtful, offbeat romantic comedy, The Pallbearer is a winner.