All of Me

Directed by Carl Reiner, All of Me follows Roger Cobb (Steve Martin) as he’s tasked with managing the estate of a dying millionairess named Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin) – with complications ensuing after Edwina’s soul winds up controlling the right half of Roger’s body. It’s a decidedly out-there premise that’s employed to watchable yet far-from-memorable effect by filmmaker Carl Reiner, and it’s clear, ultimately, that the picture’s mild success is due almost entirely to Martin’s continuously engrossing and often hilarious turn as the frazzled protagonist – with the charm and comedic value of Martin’s performance going a long way towards smoothing over the more overtly underwhelming (and flat-out hackneyed) elements in Phil Alden Robinson’s screenplay. The familiarity of the movie’s narrative is compounded by the deliberateness with which Reiner allows things to unfold, while the frantic climactic stretch isn’t quite able to pack the laugh-out-loud-funny punch that the director has clearly intended – with All of Me, in the end, only really effective when exclusively dedicated to the internal battle between Roger and Edwina (ie Martin is just that good here).

**1/2 out of ****