The Humbling (2014)

The Humbling, based on Philip Roth's novel, was released in 2014. Thirty years ago, a film starring Al Pacino and directed by Barry Levinson would have been big news, but this film barely got a release, and for pretty good reason.

Roth's book, and the film, are about an actor (Pacino) who suddenly can't act anymore. After a stint in a nut house he retreats to his Connecticut home. The daughter of old friends (Greta Gerwig), who has always had a crush on him, shows up at his door and basically moves in. She is also, normally, a lesbian.

The Humbling wasn't one of Roth's best works, with a spin on the classic May-December sex romp: older man, younger woman, but she's a lesbian. If she were a sex worker it would complete the trifecta. Pacino plays a man ground into almost nothing because he has lost his craft, but he still manages to live out a Penthouse Forum letter.

Oddly, the film withholds the sex. There is no nudity, and when Gerwig picks up a girl at a bar and brings her home, Pacino only imagines a threesome (in the book it takes place, and how).

Pacino is game, and he and Levinson highight the dark humor of the situation. A lot of the film is Pacino Skyping with his therapist (Dylan Baker), which doesn't exactly make for compelling cinema. There are also moments when Pacino is hallucinating, so we never really know what's real or not. This could be a good thing, but here it's just confusing, and leads to an ambiguous ending.

The film also features scene-stealer Charles Grodin as Pacino's agent, who has a great scene when he brings Pacino two offers: King Lear on Broadway, or a commercial for a hair loss product.

A much better film about an actor's torment came along a few years later, Birdman.