The Late Show

Directed by Robert Benton, The Late Show follows semi-retired private investigator Ira Wells (Art Carney) as he reluctantly teams up with Lily Tomlin’s quirky Margo Sterling to catch the people responsible for his partner’s murder. It’s an intriguing, promising setup that’s employed to progressively underwhelming effect by Benton, as the filmmaker, working from his own screenplay, delivers a slow-moving drama that slowly-but-surely becomes consumed by the intricate, convoluted mystery at its core – with the viewer’s inability to work up any real interest in or enthusiasm for Ira’s continuing efforts at solving the case ultimately proving rather disastrous. The Late Show‘s failure is especially disappointing given its raft of overtly appealing elements, as Benton does a superb job of establishing the picture’s mostly seedy environs and its raft of sketchy periphery figures (including Eugene Roche’s Ron Birdwell and Bill Macy’s Charlie Hatter) – although it remains clear that the movie’s most potent attribute is Carney’s lived-in and entirely hypnotic turn as the grizzled central character. (Carney’s so good here, in fact, that he sustains the viewer’s interest even through the narrative’s more aggressively arcane stretches.) By the time the admittedly satisfying finale rolls around, The Late Show has cemented its place as a disappointing (and distressing) misfire that rarely, if ever, lives up to the effectiveness of Carney’s spellbinding performance.

** out of ****