REVIEW: The Leisure Seeker cruises along just fine for Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland

REVIEW: The Leisure Seeker cruises along just fine for Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland. The veteran stars play an ageing couple hitting the open road together for the last, loving time.

THE LEISURE SEEKER (M)

Rating: Three stars (3 out of 5)

Director: Paolo Virzi (Like Crazy)

Starring: Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland, Christian McKay, Janel Moloney.

Remembering together today keeps forgotten tomorrow at bay

Not much wiggle room when it comes to The Leisure Seeker, a sincere, if cloying comedy-drama.

This movie will either touch you with its genial brand of poignancy, or torment you with its mawkish manipulation of your emotions.

Anyone who knows good casting when they see it will be inclined to give the movie the benefit of the doubt, largely because Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland are simply wonderful together here.

Donald Sutherland (John) and Helen Mirren (Ella) star in THE LEISURE SEEKER, in cinemas June 14.

They play Ella and John Spencer, an ageing married couple who have taken off in their beloved antique campervan without informing their snooty grown-up kids (Christian McKay, Janel Moloney) of their motivation or destination.

Though designed to be a feelgood trip down the highway to Florida, there is an air of finality hanging over the journey : John is living with a state of dementia that is beginning to erase the last of his cherished memories.

As for the chatty and capricious Ella, protecting her husband from himself while preserving her feelings for him is a task she may not be up to for much longer.

As the movie wears on, a feeling emerges that Mirren and Sutherland have a better grasp on this material than the man calling the shots behind the camera (Italian filmmaker Paolo Virzi, working in the English language for the first time).

Scene from the movie The Leisure Seekers. EOne films.

When the actors are merely talking - and their characters are trying to reach one another before the lines of clear communication are permanently cut - The Leisure Seeker captures the heart in a flash.

However, whenever the script calls for some meaningless levity to be inserted into proceedings - such as Mirren going on an unplanned motorbike ride - the heart hardens almost by reflex.

The lead characters’ interactions with fellow travellers are also a trifle trite when compared to some exquisite two-handed scenes.

Lovely stuff if you let go of your suspicions, and just let these two fine performers do their thing.

Originally published as REVIEW: The Leisure Seeker cruises along just fine for Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland