A gentle, amusing, entertaining movie, perfect for one of those nights when you don't want to be stretched.
But the ending is possibly one of the worst I've ever seen .. the closing scene is completely unnecessary and totally out of genre. It looks like it was tacked on as an after-thought and completely destroys some of the intriguing parts of an otherwise good narrative. Some loose-ends are a good idea in a narrative and tidying them up with a ridiculous closing scene treats the viewer as being brainless and unable to cope with curiosity. In less than 5 minutes this absurd ending turns the "missing" father from being a person of mystery into a heartless husband and dad and a Marvel-caricature , in the same moment destroys the character of Jimmy who is beautifully played by Streve Buscemi, and gives Dustin Hoffman the final words in a film he was probably not required. The film already has a perfectly good ending in the preceeding understated scene between Carmen (Melonie Diaz) and Max (The Cobbler). My advice is switch off the movie at the last ad-break and remember the film for all its really good moments.
Review of The Cobbler
