Nobody’s Fool

Composite Score: 82.43

Starring: Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, Jessica Tandy, Melanie Griffith, Dylan Walsh, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Gene Saks, Josef Sommer, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alexander Goodwin, and Margo Martindale

Director: Robert Benton

Writer: Robert Benton

Genres: Comedy, Drama

MPAA Rating: R for some language and nudity

Box Office: $39.49 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Nobody’s Fool is the 1994 adaptation of Richard Russo’s novel of the same name, starring Paul Newman as its central character, an aging construction worker whose way of living has created some complex relationship dynamics in his town. It serves as both a character study of Newman’s Donald “Sully” Sullivan and a celebration of the interconnectedness of small-town America. The film’s screenplay and its lead actor (Newman) were both nominated for Oscars that year, and by the end of the film, I came to understand why. Newman delivers a moving lead performance, carrying the film well on his shoulders, and the film’s story allows him to do that in a wholesome dramedy with some emotional weight.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                Though I really enjoyed this film and its surprisingly wholesome nature, I was left at the end feeling emotionally dissatisfied. The film does a great job building up relationships and creating a solid redemption arc for its unquestionably flawed main character, but in the end, the emotional pay-off is not nearly as big as the build-up. The various story beats with Sully’s son, Peter, and grandson, Will, tease a potential catharsis that never fully arrives. Sully’s fatherly friendship with Pruitt Taylor Vince’s Rub barely gets an emotional reconnection on Rub’s doorstep. While Melanie Griffith’s jilted housewife Toby is beautifully and powerfully portrayed, ultimately her story’s end does not deliver an emotional pay-off for the audience, though the character gets emotional. It just feels like there’s a lot of emotional investment and build-up in this story for a bunch of small pay-offs that don’t deliver like you want them to.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                Nobody’s Fool contains a well-crafted tonal balance between its dramatic and comedic beats. Despite its less-than-satisfying emotional delivery, the film does leave its audience feeling incredibly optimistic when the credits roll. This is due in great part to the well-balanced script that contains a steady dose of dramatic story beats played off against the humor of seeing the nonchalance with which Sully and the people of Bath (his hometown) respond to what should be much more dire circumstances. There is a sense of light-hearted trudging on that Sully and his fellow townspeople carry with them that makes the balance of comedy and drama feel authentic, which also carries over to the audience by the end of the film, leaving them encouraged despite the many difficulties they also just witnessed.

                Carrying this well-balanced film is Paul Newman’s performance as Sully. His delivery of dialogue and his skilled physicality help make what should be a fairly loathsome character on paper into a lovable rogue of sorts, helping certain members of the town, frustrating others, and the whole time coming to grips with his own flaws. Newman delivers a performance that is emotional and funny, mimicking the film’s balance with his own, and coming out as the highlight of a really solid film.

                Newman’s supporting cast also does their part to make Nobody’s Fool worth watching. Bruce Willis’s performance as the local construction foreman, Carl Roebuck, takes all the charisma of Willis’s John McClane and channels it into a skeevy foil (or maybe mirror) to Newman’s Sully. His character manages to be completely loathsome while still fitting into this lighthearted narrative, serving as both Sully’s nemesis and his friendly rival. Jessica Tandy (in her final film performance) plays Sully’s landlady, the lovable Miss Beryl Peoples. Her genuine performance as a concerned friend and landlady allows Sully’s more tender nature to shine through throughout the film, even as some of his other actions leave some questions in the audience’s mind. Finally, Melanie Griffith’s Toby, the frustrated wife of Carl, might be the true show-stealer of the film. In every moment of screentime she is given, she holds the audience’s attention, just as Toby holds Sully’s. Her attitude toward her own hardships reflects Sully’s and the rest of the town’s, making her development in the face of her husband’s chronic infidelities all the more powerful by the film’s end. I loved what she brought to the film, as her role allowed Sully’s character to exhibit true selfless growth by the film’s end.

                Nobody’s Fool takes a strong lead performance in Paul Newman, supported by solid outings from Bruce Willis, Jessica Tandy, and Melanie Griffith, and combines it with a wholesome story that blends comedy and drama masterfully to create a film that deserves a place among the Greats. Though its emotional build-up does not deliver fully what was promised, it works well as a character study and a positive reminder of the perseverance of humanity for its audience. Currently available to stream on HBO Max, check this one out when you get the chance.