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The Leisure Seeker is the affectionate name Helen Mirren’s character has given to the clunky, old Winnebago that she and her husband, played by Donald Sutherland, have used for years to take their children on road trips around the country.
That aging, ailing couple, as depicted in “The Leisure Seeker,” embarks on a final, ill-advised journey in their beloved recreational vehicle (RV). However, much like the titular automobile, the film sputters along toward its intended (and entirely predictable) conclusion. Even having world-class actors like Sutherland and Mirren in the front seat will not be enough to make this trip more enjoyable.
Veteran Italian filmmaker Paolo Virzi has a difficult time finding the right tone for his first English-language production. It’s a mostly gentle film with a few moments of truth thrown in for good measure. While working from a script he co-wrote with Stephen Amidon, Francesca Archibugi, and Francesco Piccolo (which is based on Michael Zadoorian’s novel), Virzi overreaches in his attempts to extract humor from situations that are inherently painful.
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Mr. Spencer (Kiefer Sutherland’s character) is a retired English teacher who can recite entire passages from Hemingway and Herman Melville from memory. However, dementia is taking its toll on him, and he is frequently unable to recall where he is or even his wife’s name, as a result of the disease. That would be Ella, played by Helen Mirren, with whom he has been married for nearly 50 years. She is chatty and gregarious, in contrast to his stuffy and meticulous demeanor. (Not to mention that the legendary Mirren’s South Carolina accent is uncharacteristically shaky.) Both have a habit of rambling on about their favorite subjects to complete strangers, which is meant to be endearing but quickly becomes tedious for us, the audience, who are forced to listen in.
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Ella, on the other hand, appears to be suffering from a medical condition, as evidenced by her frequent pill popping, whiskey swilling, and nausea. Nonetheless, she insists that she and John board the Leisure Seeker and travel from their home in Wellesley, Massachusetts, down the coast to Key West, Florida, in order to allow John to finally visit Ernest Hemingway’s historic home in Key West. Meanwhile, their grown children (Christian McKay and Janel Moloney) remain at home, waiting and fretting about their parents. (Neither is particularly well developed; he’s a closeted gay man, and she’s a professor with a husband and two children, among other things.)
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When people go on road trips, it is common for them to experience long-held frustrations and resentments that eventually bubble to the surface. However, as a convenient narrative device, “The Leisure Seeker” introduces an element of confusion and memory loss, which forces secrets to emerge in unexpected places and circumstances. There is an emotional resonance to these moments as we watch Ella watch the love of her life slip away from her grasp; other times, there isn’t.
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However, the results are frequently perplexing for us as well. It’s not clear whether John’s pointing his gun at Ella and accusing her of still being in love with a former boyfriend from 50 years ago is meant to be humorous or not. A few scenes later, they bring that same shotgun to a retirement home, where they confront the aforementioned ex in a massively contrived turn that is equally awkward as the original. Ella is on the phone with John at a gas station in the middle of nowhere when John climbs into the RV and drives away without her. When she finally catches up with him on the back of a motorcycle, he reprimands her for spending time with a stranger who appears to be dangerous. Again, Virzi presumably intends for this misunderstanding to be amusing, but he lacks the deft touch necessary to pull off such a bizarre gag successfully.
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Then there’s the half-baked political undercurrent that runs through “The Leisure Seeker,” which takes place in August 2016 during last year’s presidential campaign. In one of the opening scenes, a pickup truck drives through the comfortable, well-kept streets of Wellesley, waving Donald Trump flags and blasting one of his rousing speeches from the radio. The fact that this would happen in such a liberal environment appears to be unlikely, and the film begins on an unsatisfactory note. Later, John finds himself at a Trump rally surrounded by supporters wearing MAGA hats and chanting “USA!” and “No more Muslims!” The couple decides to spend the extra money on a hotel room for a night of luxury, only to discover that a Hillary Clinton rally is taking place nearby. It’s not clear whether or not Virzi is attempting to make a point about the significance of this turbulent period in recent American history, but the film never explores it.
But it’s his use of cliched musical selections to accompany the couple on their journey that is the most painfully obvious. In every song, from Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” at the beginning (“Something inside has died, and I can’t hide it, and I just can’t fake it”) to Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGe” at the end (“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”), Virzi never misses a chance to tell us how to feel.
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