Almost Heaven DVD: Review By DVDExaminerTyson

Almost Heaven stars Donal Logue as a has-been, alcoholic director who is given what might be his final opportunity to direct, but for a low-budget fishing show in Scotland; a show that happens to star his abrasive ex-wife Taya (Joely Collins). Despite impossible shooting conditions and personality conflicts at every turn, Mark finds the opportunity to begin anew with the guidance of a Scottish bartender, Bert (Tom Conti), and another chance at love with local fishing expert, Nicki (Kirsty Mitchell).

I really wanted to like this movie, especially since I have enjoyed some of the past work of Donal Logue, but despite a few good performances Almost Heaven fails to deliver. It was clear what story writer/director Shel Piercy is trying to tell, but the script is cheesy a lot of the time, and most of the performances are less than inspiring. When attempting to tell a story of someone at the end of their road who is given another chance at happiness -and tell it in a humerous way- the characters and the story all need to flow perfectly. In this film, the characters felt as if they were just dropped in this situation for no other reason than they needed to be there to serve the story; they felt temendously out of place. Aside from Logue and Conti, the characters don't feel as if they belong and have next to no chemistry. Logue does do a decent job in a leading romantic role, but despite a better-than-the rest performance, it's still apparent as to why he is perpetually cast in supporting roles. The shining part of Almost Heaven was the performance of Tom Conti as the advice giving, enlightening bar tender that befriends Logue's character. Conti is charming and delivers almost all of the truly funny and human scenes in the film, definitely serving as the highlight of the movie.

The story is your standard romantic-comedy about a man trying to get a fresh start in a new setting, but or course some issues from his past follow along. Everything about Almost Heaven is pretty predictable and unfortunately makes for an uninteresting 102 minutes. I'm not sure what could have been improved with this movie as the script never even allows for the opportunity to provide something fresh, but I'm not sure exactly how much new material could be covered in a romantic-comedy that involves a crew trying to produce a fishing show admist their personal struggles.

Almost Heaven isn't a terrible movie, but I wouldn't say I recommend it; there are a few humerous moments -most of which provided by Tom Conti- and Logue does manage do be charming at times. There are just better low-budget romantic comedies out there if you are willing to look, especially on the indie front, and this movie does nothing to be more and seperate itself from the masses.