The Pallbearer (1996)

Director:

Matt Reeves

Writers (WGA):

Jason Katims (written by) &
Matt Reeves (written by)

Release Date:

3 May 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A comedy about life-long crushes, mistaken identity and one really bad eulogy.

Plot:

A young man's life is thrown into a loop when he is asked to be a pallbearer for the funeral of a classmate he doesn't remember, and his old high school crush temporarily returns to town.

Plot Keywords:

Mistaken Identity | Roller Coaster | Independent Film

Cast

David Schwimmer	...	Tom Thompson
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Julie DeMarco
Michael Rapaport	...	Brad Schorr
Toni Collette	...	Cynthia
Carol Kane	...	Tom's Mother
Michael Vartan	...	Scott
Bitty Schram	...	Lauren
Jean De Baer	...	Suzanne DeMarco
Elizabeth Franz	...	Aunt Lucille
Mark Margolis	...	Philip DeMarco
Barbara Hershey	...	Ruth Abernathy
Edoardo Ballerini	...	The Job Interviewer
Matthew Faber	...	Jared
Robin Morse	...	Sylvie
Tony Machine	...	The Undertaker

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and language.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-12 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:18 | Spain:7 | Sweden:7 | USA:PG-13 | UK:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

The roller coaster Tom and Julie ride is actually the Blue Streak, which is located at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the mother is making instant coffee, the jar label is turned between shots.

Quotes:

Ruth Abernathy: [In restaurant, in front of Julie and her parents] So, this is Julie! Why don't you tell her, Tom, what you did to your best friend's mother?
Tom: He wasn't my best friend. I hardly knew him!

Nice Boy Nightmare

Pallbearer is a story about a guy who has not gained anything in his life and his future does not look promising either. Well, he is healthy and sane but incredibly unfortunate because he has probably been a too kind person: the life he was supposed to be living has slipped through his fingers. Turning now into latter part of his twenties he realizes that he's still a little boy and he should start doing something.

He will have a hopeless crush on a girl, and likewise a widow who has lost his son too will have a hopeless crush on him and that leads into a romance that is both tragic and comical. David Schwimmer makes a good performance as the guy who has to survive from many kinds of embarrassing situations, and Paltrow as the woman will do the standard Paltrow set. Nothing too surprising in the plot but the film is relatively good watching because of some well worked little scenes that faintly resemble Mr. Bean episodes.