Senior Love Triangle is a story that follows an old man who, after falling in love with two women of similar age, decides that it is up to him to save them from the retirement home that they all live in. It is a sweet concept that lends itself well to many audiences and genres of film. It is unfortunate then that the film itself, for all its good intentions, is mostly unengaging.
The cast is strong and doing a fine job. All deliver believable performances with an offbeat edge to them. It is charming to listen to and watch. The best performance coming from lead actor Tom Bower, who many might recognize from Die Hard 2 as Marvin, or possibly from The Hills Have Eyes or Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. He plays it like a man who has seen hard times, and is currently going through hard times, but is working to keep those he cares about happy.
The direction from Kelly Blatz, in his feature film debut, is refreshingly restrained. Blatz seems more focused on letting the actors and characters carry the material, which can work for a film like this. It is honestly preferable to do so than to over-stylize the film, making it feel pretentious. The budget did hamper things a little, but you find films looking far worse on Netflix and Shudder. There is little flash, but in a film about senior romance there does not need to be flash.
The problem comes from the script. I would not call Senior Love Triangle a bad film, it isn’t, but it is overlong and uninteresting. It is obvious that the director has only done short film directing before, as Senior Love Triangle feels like it is full of padding. Like it should have been a short film, but the filmmakers stretched it beyond capacity to reach a feature length. Senior Love Triangle may only reach the ninety-minute mark, but it feels longer. At a point, if a film feels like it is an hour longer than it is, then the audience is just going to say that it was a long film.
Outside of the theme of sexuality among elderly couples, which is sweet and interesting, the film just doesn’t feel remarkable. I have seen more dramas about the elderly feeling imprisoned that left more of an impression. And that is Senior Love Triangle’s biggest sin. It just isn’t memorable. Most of the start of the film was a blur not long after first watching the film. At the end of the day, it is preferable to watch a film that was bad but left an impact than one that was decent but swiftly forgotten.
I do feel bad for coming off as harsh, as it wasn’t a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. There are some great performances and the craft of the filmmaking is on point. It is sadly not entertaining enough or interesting enough to engage for the length of the film. A few more drafts of the script would have helped a lot for the pacing issues. It is still worth a watch and may well strike a cord with many, for its sincerity and sweet topic alone.
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