''Last Flag Flying'' is a 2017 American

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Richard Linklater Richard Stuart Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies '' ...

with a screenplay by Linklater and

Darryl Ponicsan Darryl Ponicsan (; born May 26, 1938) is an American writer. He is best known as the author of the 1970 novel ''The Last Detail,'' which was adapted into a 1973 film starring Jack Nicholson. A sequel, ''Last Flag Flying'', based on his 2005 nov ...

, based upon the latter's 2005 novel of the same name. It stars

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott (The Office), Michael Scott in ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the The Office (B ...

Bryan Cranston Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor and director who is best known for portraying Walter White in the AMC crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and Hal in the Fox sitcom ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2 ...

, and

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...

as three

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

veterans who reunite after one of their sons is killed in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. Ponicsan's 2005 novel ''Last Flag Flying'' is a sequel to his 1970 novel ''The Last Detail'', which covered the same characters earlier in their lives. For that reason, ''Last Flag Flying'' has been described as an unofficial sequel to the earlier novel's 1973 film adaptation, ''

The Last Detail ''The Last Detail'' is a 1973 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby, from a screenplay by Robert Towne, based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Darryl Ponicsan. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, Randy Quaid, Clifton James, ...

''.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

in November 2016. The film had its world premiere at the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it is ...

on September 28, 2017, and was released in the United States by

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

and

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

on November 3, 2017.

Plot

In 2003, Larry "Doc" Shepherd visits the bar of Sal Nealon, a Marine veteran who he served with in Vietnam. Sal joins Doc on an impromptu drive where Doc reveals that he has also tracked down another friend from Vietnam, now-Reverend Richard Mueller. Sal and Doc are invited to dinner with the Muellers, where Doc reveals he is recently widowed and just lost his only son in Iraq. He admits he tracked down Sal and Mueller in the hope that they would accompany him to collect the body of his son Larry Jr. and take him to his scheduled burial. Sal agrees, though Mueller is hesitant, claiming that Sal and Doc represent a dark period in his life. His wife urges him to do it, and he reluctantly agrees to accompany them. Along the way, Sal and Mueller clash over their differing philosophies and their mutual guilt over their past; both Sal and Mueller (nicknamed the Mauler) indulged in alcohol, drugs and prostitutes while on deployment, and on one occasion used up the entire supply of then-19 year old Doc's painkillers, which led to a needlessly painful death for one of their fellow Marines and a bad conduct discharge for Doc. Sal, who has no social filter from a head injury from the war, continually gets under Mueller's skin for having found religion, whilst Mueller expresses frustration at Sal's lack of maturity. At

Dover Air Force Base Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), located southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware. 436th AW is the host wing and runs the busiest and largest a ...

, Doc requests to view the maimed body of his son, against the advice of Mueller and LtCol Willits. During the viewing, LCpl Charlie Washington, Larry Jr.'s close friend, reveals to Sal and Mueller that Larry Jr. had been killed while shopping at an Iraqi market, contrary to the official story of dying while fighting heroically; Sal reveals the truth to a disillusioned Doc, who refuses the

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

burial and insists on giving Larry Jr. a civilian burial. Willits orders Washington to accompany the body and coerce Doc into changing his mind about having his son buried in civilian clothing. Sal, Mueller and Doc begin a long road trip back home, waylaid by the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

(alerted by their cash rental, vague destination and Mueller's praying) and a missed train in New York City. Over the course of the journey, the clashing becomes more good natured and Doc begins to boost in the company of his friends. Sal asks Doc to move to his town to run the bar with him, and the three purchase their first cell phones to stay in contact. Their trip takes them to Boston where Sal insists that they meet the mother of Jimmy Hightower, the fellow Marine who died painfully without morphine. When they arrive, they realise that Mrs. Hightower was given the same story about her son's heroism that Doc was given about Larry Jr.; Sal decides not to deny her the story and the trio pretend to have been the men that Hightower saved when he was killed in action. The group return to Portsmouth for Larry Jr.'s funeral, and where Washington persuades Doc that Larry's civilian suit will be too small and he should be buried in his dress blues. At the burial, Sal and Mueller wear their uniforms, and participate in the flag-folding ceremony. Back at Doc's house, Charlie gives Doc a letter from Larry Jr., claiming not to have read it. Doc reads his wishes: to be buried beside his mother wearing his uniform. Doc smiles as Larry thanks him for being a great father.

Cast

Production

In August 2016, it was announced that

would direct from a script co-written with

, based on Ponicsan's novel, and

would produce and distribute the film.

, and

were the first actors cast in the film. In October 2016, J. Quinton Johnson joined the cast. Richard Robichaux's casting was announced in November.

began in November 2016 in Pittsburgh.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on September 28, 2017. It was scheduled to be released on November 17, 2017, but was moved forward to November 3, 2017, when

was announced to co-distribute the film alongside

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 77% based on 220 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Last Flag Flying'' balances raw drama against refreshing moments of humor in an impeccably cast film that wrestles with questions of patriotism, family, and grief." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Writing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'',

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...

gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, praising the cast but criticizing some of the writing, saying, "Linklater can't protect them from all the script's potholes, including sentiment, contrivance and a galling mixed-message ending. But spending time in the company of Carell, Cranston and Fishburne? That truly is a pleasure."

References

External links

* * * * {{Richard Linklater 2017 films 2010s buddy comedy-drama films 2010s road comedy-drama films American buddy comedy-drama films American road comedy-drama films Amazon Studios films Lionsgate films Films based on American novels Films directed by Richard Linklater Films set in 2003 Films set in Boston Films set in Delaware Films set in New Hampshire Films set in New York City Films set in Virginia Films shot in Pittsburgh Iraq War films Military humor in film Military of the United States in fiction Rail transport films Films about the United States Marine Corps 2017 comedy films 2017 drama films Films about veterans 2010s English-language films 2010s American films