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Writer's pictureIssi Israel Doron

Just Getting Started




Just Getting Started is a 2017 American comedy. Directed by Ron Shelton. The movie stars some key current Hollywood stars like Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones and Gienne Headly (who died in June 2017).

The story is about a luxury retired persons' resort "Villa Capri" in Palm Springs, manged by Duke (Freeman), who used to be a mob lawyer, but now hides (as part of witness protection program) from his ex-mafia clients. Three different things occur to Duke at the same time: First, a new ex-FBI agent, rich and fancy resident appears at the resort (Lee Jones), and starts compete with Duke as the "man" of the place; Second, a regional director of the resort chain appears to perform an audit; and finally, the Mafia finds about Duke, and tries to kill him. The combination of all three sub-plots turn the movie into a what should have been (but not always succeeds to be) a series of comedy of events.

To be very gentle then I can say that overall this is a light comedy, which if taken easily and not too seriously - can be a nice "summer comedy". But - do not expect much more than that.

From a gerontological perspective, I found this movie actually interesting, from the point of view of how "rich pensioners' resort" are socially constructed. It seems that the "populist" version of these places is of a hedonistic sanctuaries, where old men and women enjoy the good lives, play golf and have sex, without no fears. The older women in the resort are looking for casual sex, and serve as "decoration" for the men. In some ways, this is a classic example of ageism and sexism, and on how "young" American society portrays "rich old men"....

From this perspective - this film can serve as good starting point for class discussions on how ageism and sexism interact in current American society.


USA

2017

Director: Ron Shelton.

Movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WK-hJEOUwY

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