Here Today, PG-13
Billy Crystal, 73, and fellow SNL alum Alan Zweibel, 71, co-wrote this poignant, jokey fable about a wise elder writer (Crystal, who also directs) on an SNL-like show with a young staff that drives him crazy. As he begins to develop dementia, he befriends a young singer (Tiffany Haddish). “As we were writing the movie, I was taking care of my aunt as she started to get dementia, my sole surviving older relative,” Crystal tells AARP. “A novelist and Book of the Month Club editor, she heartbreakingly said to me, ‘I’m terrified, and losing my words.’ And Alan’s dad was suffering dementia, too. So we tapped into an emotional place.” Crystal’s character’s incipient dementia gave Haddish’s character a motive to love him, not just the usual older actor-younger actress romance. “Love is more important than romance. Tiffany’s character gives up her singing career to take care of this guy 35 years older, because she wants to pay him back for saving her life — and help him finish his book about his late wife and his family.” Some scenes fall flat, but when it’s good, Here Today is absorbing and moving, and Crystal and Haddish are two great tastes that taste great together. —Tim Appelo (T.A.)
Watch it: Here Today, in theaters nationwide
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