Harriet is a retired businesswoman who tries to control everything around her. When she decides to write her own obituary, a young journalist takes up the task of finding out the truth resulting in a life-altering friendship.
Thank goodness for Shirley MacLaine. With anyone else in the lead role, this sweet but uneven indie would have likely buckled under the weight of its mounting contrivances.
Even when surrounded by junk, the 83-year-old MacLaine still has plenty of pep. She's a treasure, but "The Last Word" doesn't do her or her legacy justice.
I hope that in the name of her decades-spanning career and six Academy Award nominations (plus one win), we might do MacLaine the small courtesy of forgetting that this pedestrian and dull comedy ever happened.
Beyond the contrivance and a gimmicky story that not only would never happen but would never happen in the way it happens here, there are positive aspects to "The Last Word."
