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Release Year: 2016 Rating: 7.7/10 ( voted) Critic's Score: /100 Director: Andy Tennant Stars: Jessica Lange, Demi Moore, Shirley MacLaine Storyline
A retired widow who hits the jackpot when she receives a life insurance check mistakenly made out for $5,000,000 instead of $50.000. She and her best friend then take off, only to become media sensations and fugitives from justice. Writers: Gary Kanew, Claudia Myers, Jessica Lange, Demi Moore, Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Lange, Demi Moore, Shirley MacLaine, Billy Connolly, Judd Hirsch, Matt Walsh, Howard Hesseman, Rebecca Da Costa, Stephanie Beacham, Jay Hayden, Santiago Segura, Vincent De Paul, Lawrence Turner, Miles Mussenden, Ptolemy Slocum, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Cast: Jessica Lange -
Maddie
Demi Moore -
Crystal
Shirley MacLaine -
Eva Miller
Billy Connolly -
Judd Hirsch -
Matt Walsh -
Howard Hesseman -
Vespucci
Rebecca Da Costa -
Flavia
Stephanie Beacham -
Tammy
Jay Hayden -
Chip
Santiago Segura -
Vincent De Paul -
Family Mourner
Lawrence Turner -
Mourner #1
Miles Mussenden -
Bernard Dyson
Ptolemy Slocum -
Luke
Country: USA Language: English Release Date: 3 Jan 2016 Filming Locations: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $10,000,000
(estimated)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Demi Moore replaced Sarah Jessica Parker. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 10/10
Synopsis: Two best friends take off to the Canary Islands after one of
them is accidentally awarded $5,000,000 by her recently deceased
husband's insurance company.
________________
Towards the end of "Wild Oats", an ebullient Shirley MacLaine and a
luminous Jessica Lange share a poignant, tearful moment that reminds
one of the power of love, friendship and spontaneity. Maddie (Lange)
has made a crucial decision about the direction she will take after
having seen her quiet life unexpectedly disrupted by cancer, Eva's
(MacLaine) $5,000,000 windfall, a tropical island caper and, finally,
love. As she hugs and thanks her best friend of forty years for the
adventure of a lifetime, one gets the feeling that Lange is thanking
MacLaine as a mentor and a friend. This becomes the key ingredient of
the film: the chemistry between and prowess of its two stars, who
literally light up the small screen with charm, humor and heartbreak.
Coco Chanel once said, "You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at
forty and irresistible for the rest of your life." This has never been
truer of MacLaine and Lange.
Still, The Weinstein Company's latest comedy premiered on the Lifetime
Channel with little fanfare. Plagued by a chaotic and uncertain shoot,
production for "Wild Oats" was completed in February of 2015, after
which it sat on the shelf before being suddenly pulled from a September
16, 2016 limited theatrical release and dumped on basic cable.
Nonetheless, with a funny, charming script by Gary Kanew and Claudia
Myers, a whimsical score by George Fenton, and exuberant and
effervescent performances from MacLaine and Lange, this is probably
Andy Tennant's best directorial effort since "The Wonder Years" and
"Ever After". Tennant directs this with an assured hand and pulls it
off. The picture shines and feels every much the theatrical film it was
intended to be. One can't help but wonder what the critical and
financial response would've been had it been allowed a life in
theaters. It's very likely this will get its moment of redemption next
year at the Emmys and other awards bodies.
MacLaine and Lange spar with the freedom of icons with nothing left to
prove, and MacLaine has the grace to step aside and let Lange shine and
nearly claim the movie. She in turn reveals herself to be just as adept
at comedy as she is at tragedy, flitting, flirting and farting around
(literally!) like a feisty, ethereal cherub. Maddie is by turns
impatient, fun-loving, prideful, vulnerable and often hilarious: traits
Lange wields to compose a performance that is both comfortingly
grounded and zanily unpredictable. There's a moment one-third of the
way through the film in which she attempts to explain Eva's strange
behavior at an ATM. "He was a machine," Maddie blurts out in reference
to Eva's recently deceased husband, mumbling something incoherent
afterwards. It's one of her character's funniest moments and one of
Lange's finest. Another moment comes as she readies herself for a night
out. Looking in the mirror, she lets out a cry of disappointment before
brushing it away and flirting with her reflection. Priceless. Lange
handles comedy here with gusto and aplomb, though when the time comes
to display her prodigious dramatic talents, she triumphs there too. I
can see her getting double nods next year: Supporting for "Wild Oats"
and Lead for "Feud". She's so good here, I can even see her winning for
this", especially after being overlooked this year for her wonderfully
nuanced work in Louis C.K.'s masterpiece, "Horace and Pete", and giving
Sarandon a clearer path to her first Emmy for "Feud".
Demi Moore as MacLaine's uptight daughter is surprisingly effective,
masterfully and subtly playing on the clichés of her character type,
but not succumbing to them. Her "Yes it is!" breakdown is hilarious.
"Wild Oats" doesn't stray from the tested formulas of the genre, but it
does get those formulas right. What the screenwriters lack in
innovativeness, Tennant makes up for with a keen eye and generosity, to
the actors and in turn, the audience.
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