Review | The Comeback Trail movie review: Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones and Morgan Freeman find their mojo in Hollywood comedy
- Robert De Niro is engaged, enthusiastic and funny in The Comeback Trail – a far cry from his other lowbrow comedies like Little Fockers and Dirty Grandpa
- Equally, Tommy Lee Jones and Morgan Freeman prove they’ve still got what it takes when it comes to acting in a loving tribute to the seedier side of Tinsel Town
3/5 stars
In The Comeback Trail, his latest attempt to raise a smile, the legendary actor plays struggling 1970s movie producer Max Barber, who hatches a plan to kill off the star of his new Western and get rich from the insurance payout. But unlike so many of his recent crimes against cinema, De Niro here appears engaged, enthusiastic and is genuinely funny.
De Niro is not alone in his efforts. Tommy Lee Jones is equally invested as washed-up screen cowboy Duke Montana, whom Barber hopes will attempt one life-threatening stunt too many. Contemplating suicide when first introduced, Duke reluctantly climbs back into the saddle, only for Barber’s gauntlet of death-defying escapades to give him a new lease of life.
Similarly, Morgan Freeman is having a ball as a movie-loving gangster-turned-investor, to whom Barber owes a small fortune. Even Zach Braff manages to hold his own against this trio of veteran heavyweights, as Barber’s nephew and business partner who is kept in the dark about his nefarious scheme.
Written and directed by George Gallo, who penned 1988’s Midnight Run, De Niro’s first successful foray into comedy, The Comeback Trail emerges as a loving tribute to the seedier side of Tinsel Town. Itself a remake of a little-known 1982 film, it fuses the darkly humorous tone of Elmore Leonard’s Hollywood crime novel Get Shorty with the mad-cap desperation of Mel Brooks’ comedy classic The Producers.
