Director: Matt Reeves
Running time: approximately 95 minutes
Starring: David Schwimmer, Gwyneth Paltrow, Carol Kane, Barbara Hershey, Toni Collette, Michael Rapaport, Michael Vartan
Screenplay: Jason Katims, Matt Reeves
Grade: C+
Overall: ** ½ (out of 4)
Comedy: 3 (out of 5)
Drama: 2 (out of 5)

THE PALLBEAR is a film trying very hard to exude quirky charm. The intent of the people who made it was to impress us with the hang-dog personality of the protagonist, Tom (David Schwimmer). He walks around with a constant lost look in his eyes, and pouts like a puppy dog, as when he tries to get one of his friends to loan him a shirt. The problem is, this sad sack impersonation gets old fast. In addition, there really isn’t much to like about Schwimmer’s character.

The premise of THE PALLBEARER is that one day, Tom gets a call from a woman he doesn’t know; she wants him to be a pallbearer at her son’s funeral. She thinks that Tom had been a good friend of her son’s. From there, of course, he gets pulled deeper and deeper into a relationship with the family of the dead boy. At the same time, Tom is pursuing a girl he had a crush on in high school, Julie Demarco (Gwyneth Paltrow).

The main problem with the film is that it is very difficult to sympathize with Tom. He is, in just about every sense of the word, a loser—and a rather pathetic one, at that. At one point Julie, says, "I’m lost; I’m completely lost." And she is; but her observation applies equally well to Tom. He lives at home with his mom, he can’t seem to get a job, and he is entangled in a screwed-up relationship with the dead boy’s mother (Barbara Hershey). He doesn’t treat his mother (Carol Kane) particularly well, nor his friends. If they want the audience to care about this character, they should have shown us something endearing about Tom (other than his constant little-boy-lost expression).

It’s more fun to watch the supporting characters than the star. Toni Colette, from MURIEL’S WEDDING, is very good in a small part. Her American accent is flawless, and you’ll have trouble recognizing her as the star of that film. Also, Tom’s two friends, played by Michael Rapaport and Michael Vartan, are good. In fact, they are both more interesting and more likable than Schwimmer. Carol Kane and Barbara Hershey are both adequate as the boys’ mothers—Cane as Tom’s mom, and Hershey as the dead guy’s mom. Paltrow failed to impress; her character, Julie, is not much better than Schwimmer’s, and as a leading couple, they are just not worth caring about.

THE PALLBEARER brought back memories of a far superior film: THE BIG CHILL. In both films, the funeral of a suicide acts as the fulcrum upon which a group of friends relate to each other. But THE BIG CHILL knew its territory; the characters were all entertaining and worth watching. In THE PALLBEARER, too much weight was put on Schwimmer; it’s really his movie, and he just doesn’t have the screen presence to carry it off.