Comedians often like to show their acting chops, as Jerry Lewis and others have done. Now Lewis, at 90, sinks his teeth into the role of Max, who is mourning the death of his wife in the film written and directed by Daniel Noah. Lewis’s acting is better than the overwrought screenplay.
Max, who used to be a jazz pianist, shocks those at the funeral service for Eva, to whom he was married for 65 years, by bursting out that their life together was “a lie.” That unnerves everyone, especially his son, Chris, portrayed by Kevin Pollak.
What prompts Max’s anger? He has discovered an inscription on Eva’s compact that leads him to suspect that she had a lover. Max can’t rest until he finds what happened and who the lover could be. The quest becomes an obsession that drives the film as well as Max.
We meet Eva in flashbacks. She is played by Claire Bloom, always an intriguing actress, but remembered for much better parts. (Think Chaplin’s “Limelight.”). The screenplay also poses father-son problems that need to be resolved.
While the film does not present great challenges to Lewis a serious actor, he is able to do justice to Max insofar as the story allows. We see him with his cronies. We see him sullen and disturbed in grief. We see his stubbornness and wanting to shrug off pressures that would sway him from his determination to learn the truth about his wife. Lewis gets all of this across with skill.
Of course, this is basically a sentimental journey that must lead to understanding, and the screenplay has its limitations. But one can come away with an impression that at his advanced age Lewis can still command the screen. Yet “Max Rose” will in no way reverse the indelible memories of how funny Jerry Lewis could be when unleashed in his slapstick comedies geared for those with a taste for his brand of humor. That is how he will remain most regarded. A Paladin release. Reviewed September 2, 1016.