Ashby (2015)

Undescribable Perfection

That was an excellent one.

Blistering performances.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I consider this film something of a hidden gem; It has an endearing charm, one which i find slightly criminal given its poor reception and box office success. The real draw to 'Ashby' for me personally is Mickey Rourke's performance, and its place within his filmography. To me, it proves his ability to act has endured, past 'The Wrestler' - a film in which many naysayers would believe to be his last good role. This in itself gives the film an added value that cannot be tarnished (not even by Rourke's behaviour in his personal life). Furthermore, Emma Roberts and Nat Wolff are not without their charm; solidifying the strength of the cast. However, the film is not without their flaws. Stylistically, the film is slightly underwhelming - a majority of the shots being bland and straightforward. The humour is also somewhat strange and executed in a peculiar manner, but this is perhaps to be expected, given the generally quirky nature of Wolff's characters. In the end, these are all flaws to be tolerated, and the value that lies within this film is a greater in comparison. Again, If nothing else it is truly a sight to behold for all devoted fans of Rourke's.

I liked it, I consider it a good movie. It's different than other movies and at the end of the movie I felt I had received a good message. I think the story is good without clichés and everybody performance was focused. It was good to see beautiful Emma Roberts and also Mickey Rourke.I like since the beginning it made me laugh with a the bj scene, and also I think it was really good it didn't take the way of typical movies, there were like 5 different scenarios in which the movies could take direction but it didn't, that helped to make this movie a good and different movie without the typical options, I consider that it has more realism than other movies.Thanks

To Filmmakers: Unless your life is in some godforsaken third world violent hellhole run by a moronic dictator who wears those ridiculous gym teacher shorts I can't imagine anything less like life than the game of football so please stop, just stop trying to make that connection.I just needed to get that out of the way first thing. Other than that I sort of liked the movie during the part that I didn't like it. Mickey Rourke and Sarah Silverman were both fun to watch, the kid not so much. He's likable enough but his role was all over the place. I never got a sense of who he really was. Was he the awkward outsider or the cool kid? The film used that ambiguity as a tool but I don't think it was very satisfying, at least not for me.Maybe there were just a few too many issues to deal with in a little high school comedy, or whatever this was. Let's just count them all up: new kid in town, dad issues, hit-man next door neighbor, mom's a slut, cutie from school likes him but for some reason he doesn't like her much, and then the football crap. I'm getting a headache just listing them. Leave out two of these and the film would have been significantly more fun.

Ashby is another coming of age story about a kid and a mentor. Ashby Holt (Mickey Rourke) is a retired CIA assassin who has only 3 months left to live. Ed Wallis (Nat Wolff) is a high school student who meets Ashby while working on an assignment. As they get to know each other more Ed discovers Ashby's CIA service record and Ashby sets out for redemption. Ashby also mentors Ed through his relationship with Eloise (Emma Roberts), getting on the football team, and coming to grips with the fact that Ed's dad is not coming home. Although serious it's also a comedy and a good one at that. Acting is great all around and Rourke stands out especially. Ashby is highly recommended.