SnoopyStyle Abbie (Billy Crystal) is a surgeon who just had a heart attack. On his on again off again girlfriend Lisa (JoBeth Williams)'s insistence, he visits his estranged father Abe (Alan King). Abe is a failed actor/extra who is slowly suffering from dementia.Henry Winkler directs this movie. He doesn't really have any vision or style. All he does is just turn on the camera and let the actors go. And that's what Alan King does. He's manic. He's powerful. Billy Crystal is playing the angry young man trying to reconnect with his crazy father.The pace is slow and cumbersome. The jokes come fast and deliver flat. Everybody is grumpy. I hoped the movie to be better. I'm pulling for them. But Crystal is just too grumpy.The stuff about being an extra just doesn't ring true. It may seem right if you don't think about it. But if an extra keeps causing trouble, he'd be quickly kicked off the set.

mcfly-31 Schmaltzy seriocomedy dealing with doctor Crystal's re-examination of his life, which at the core lies an estranged relationship with his father (King). So it's off to L.A. for in-fighting, pent-up resentments, and your typical barrage of cats-and-dogs-living-together nonsense. Like an old married couple, Crystal and King bicker, find some common ground, make up, then one insults the other and we're back to square one. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.The major problem with the film is that Billy Crystal has never been more unlikable or angry. In a sense, he's the villain of the piece. King is the kid, carefree and footloose, while Crystal is his straight-man, constantly finding fault and prone to rages. Yes, we understand he was a bad father, but King's character --- though a typical curmudgeon --- has so much life and good humor about him, that Crystal's never-can-be-budged attitude is really a disappointment playing against type. A serious Billy Crystal is not an enjoyable one.Crystal's co-written script and Winkler's direction reek of treacly melodrama far too often. The most awkward moment deals with an infuriated Crystal seeking refuge --- after an umpteenth fight with dad --- in the arms of his girlfriend. The violins are cranked up, Crystal disrobes, begins kissing down her stomach, they straddle each other...ick. All that was missing was slow-motion, perhaps. So maybe I should stand corrected; a love scene with Billy Crystal, is not an enjoyable one as well.There are some witty jabs at showbiz, King's standing in the community as "King of the Extras", filmic references, and a touching moment or two that stay out of the aforementioned overly sentimental realm. Plus Crystal and King (both of whom produced) expectedly work well together, considering their backgrounds. Not just with the expected comic moments, but stretching their dramatic bones as well. And Jobeth Williams as their female foil, has never looked better in her life. She adds some much needed light and beauty to the mostly drab circumstances.Don't expect much from this forgotten parental allegory ("Unhappy Memories of Me" would've been more apt), and don't watch it with dad if you guys have always had problems. You'll at least get a couple of quotable barbs to share with others, such as Crystal and King preparing for bed: Crystal: "I'm gonna turn in." King: "To what?" And one of the all-timers at a traffic accident: Cop: "Are you a doctor?" King: "No, he's an electrician, but he's good with his hands!"Both those are few and far between.

jotix100 It's hard to understand, sometimes, what can go wrong in the relationship between a father and son, when no physical abuse is involved. We know these situations do exist, as it the case presented by this movie that tries hard to presents a situation about the distancing between a son and his father, two people that are much alike.Billy Crystal, working on the screen play with Eric Roth, try to make us like this story. As directed by Henry Winkler, this dramatic comedy doesn't add anything that one hasn't already seen already. In fact, most of it kept reminding us the work of Neil Simon with all its one liners and glibness."Memories of Me" makes a point to salute those unknown people working behind the stars because Abe, the father of this story is a struggling extra in Hollywood. The movie capitalizes on the star turn by Alan King, who plays the father. Billy Crystal underplays the son. Jobeth Williams also appears.Mr. Winkler has gone for the sentimentality and the result is a film that doesn't go anywhere.

grabberlime While the story has been told before and perhaps better,(notably Jack Lemmon in "Dad" ) this story of a father and son coming to terms with their relationship after the father learns he is terminal, is worth a look.Alan King gives a wonderful performance in the role of the father. His scene in the casting director's office near the end of the film is worth the video rental itself. Perhaps a little overdone, but it summed up his life and career. Billy Crystal ostensibly plays the straight man, something he rarely if ever has done.