Judi Dench would have been interesting, but don't think she'd be the first person to come to mind. People here often suggested Sissy Spaceck, and really, I think she'd have been perfect. Diane Keaton, playing against type, would also have offered an interesting, more subtle reading. I loved it at the time it came out, but the more I see it, the more I realize John Patrick Shanley was a terrible director of his material. He is just not a filmmaker, he has no idea how to make something visually interesting, and he had no idea how to work with his actors. Streep had semblances of an intriguing performance that needed to be toned down by her director; instead, he just let her do whatever she wanted. He cast Philip Seymour Hoffman, who had no business being in this film, he was so miscast; Matt Damon or Dennis Quaid, would have nailed the role.
I thought the best performances came from Viola Davis and Amy Adams. Davis' excellence in the film has been spoken about a lot, but I feel people underrated Amy Adams' surprising, and quite subtle turn in this movie. I thought she was gonna be very expected and obvious, but I thought her acting choices throughout were surprising. Overall, the movie is filled with unrealized potential, but some parts really work.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
