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QUEUE REVIEW

We Found It on Watch Instantly: T.R. Knight in The Last Request

By Max Silvestri at

Each week, Netflix Watch Instantly adds hundreds of new titles. Four or five are movies you want to watch, some are bad TV shows or camp classics, and most make no sense at all. Those in the latter category are puzzling: not bad Enough to be good and certainly not good enough to be interesting. In this column, comedian Max Silvestri will review a new film on Netflix Watch Instantly and ask, what is this?

What It's About: After his more fertile child dies during a sex accident, a terminally ill stand-up comedian demands that his remaining son grant him a dying wish: leave the priesthood and get married.

Who It's For: People fed up with films that paint humor, familial love and human sexuality in a positive light.

What was this movie? I was enchanted by the summary on Netflix: "After learning that he's dying, a man has one last request for either of his two sons: Get married! But when one of them dies trying, it's up to his brother — an aspiring priest — to fulfill his father's wish before it's too late." One of them dies trying? An aspiring priest? A nonsensical concept plus an all-star cast full of such notables as Danny Aiello, Joe Piscopo, Mario Cantone, and Gilbert Gottfried meant The Last Request seemed perfect to write about. The credit sequence, a dream in which our main character Jeff is being chased by boob-sharks, solemnly declares, "...And introducing T.R. Knight as Jeff." What an introduction! T.R. Knight used to be on Grey's Anatomy, a show I have never seen. Apparently the show is famous because in each episode one of the main characters dies or has an abortion or both, so it's high stakes.

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GRADING THE TRADES

Leonardo DiCaprio Close to Violence

Leonardo DiCaprio
Kevin Winter/DGA/Getty Images

Leonardo DiCaprio is circling a lead role in Todd Field's (In the Bedroom, Little Children) The Creed of Violence, a Western based on the recent book by Boston Teran about a criminal who smuggles weapons into Mexico in 1910 but ends up in the custody of a government agent who turns out to be his son (DiCaprio hasn't yet decided between the two characters). Creed has been in development at Universal for years, but DiCaprio's interest could put it back on the fast track. Then again, maybe the failure of Cowboys and Aliens over the weekend means Universal will cool it on Westerns for a while. Grade: A- ["24 Frames"/LAT]

Woody Allen, currently enjoying his biggest-ever success with Midnight in Paris, will open up in a new documentary to air this November on PBS. Produced by Robert Weide (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Seriously Funny: The Comic Art of Woody Allen will feature interviews and footage of the director visiting his old Brooklyn neighborhood. Grade: B+ ["Show Tracker"/LAT]

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