MM ~ The Last Word

Happy Movie Monday!  

Today's movie = The Last Word, a 2017 dramedy starring Shirley MacLaine and Amanda Seyfried.  (This is not one of my top favorite movies or even one that I know very well... it was on Hulu, so I watched it for the second time this weekend, but it was well-timed.)  The message of being more honest, direct, and fearless... the message of making bold choices and shaping your own legacy... and the reminder of what really matters in the end were all very welcome and needed in my life right now.

*spoiler alert*

MacLaine plays a strong-willed retired woman who lacks many healthy relationships and decides in her 80s that she wants to fix that and change how she will be remembered.  She reads obituaries in the newspaper, and she decides to hire the young obituary writer (Amanda Seyfried) to help her reshape her own legacy and write her obituary ahead of time!

From her obituary reading, Harriet (MacLaine) believes there are four key elements to a good life story:

1) They were loved by their family.

2) They were admired by their coworkers and friends.

3) They profoundly touched the life of at least one person in need for the better.

4) She called this the "wild card," meaning a unique interest, hobby, or quirk that stood out about them.

Harriet loves eclectic music and offers to work for free, so she becomes a DJ at a local radio station.  She speaks at the community center, where she seeks out and begins to mentor a feisty underprivileged girl named Brenda.  She makes amends with former coworkers and makes a trip to see her estranged daughter.  She is a control freak who is rough around the edges, but still likable in her determination to live by her own rules.

As Anne (Seyfried) delves into Harriet's past for more material, she begins to respect her and they eventually form a real friend/mentor relationship.  Predictably, the movie ends with Anne speaking at Harriet's funeral.  She then quits the job she had no passion for and travels to Spain, a place she had always dreamed about going.  Brenda receives a gift and a short-and-simple note from Harriet that says: "You lead. They will follow."  I loved that. 

Other quotes I loved:

Harriet's radio sign-off:  "Please don't have a nice day.  Have a day that matters.  Have a day that's true.  Have a day that's direct.  Have a day that's honest. A nice day?  You'll be miserable.  Have a day that means something!"

Harriet:  "The idea of leaving my own obituary to chance seems very unreasonable to me."

Brenda:  "God put you into the world to BE something."

Harriet:  "Well, compromise just means that two people are miserable instead of one." lol

Anne:  "I think it's a really good thing that we knew Harriet Lauler. I think it sucks that she died.  But at the end of the day, all I really needed to say, all I really ever needed to say was that she will not be forgotten.  That's the best that any of us could hope for - that we will not be forgotten.  Harriet Lauler lived her life, and I'm going to honor her memory by doing the same."

Harriet:  "No, you don't make mistakes.  Mistakes make you."

Anne:  "This is not my letter of resignation; this is my obituary.  The young girl who worked for you for the last seven years is dead and buried.  She leaves behind a lifetime of indecision, hesitation, and fear.  She will not be missed.  She will not be mourned... because she was never really alive to begin with.  But she is now.  And she has her entire life in front of her, an entire life just waiting to be filled!"

❤❤❤