Manglehorn

With his 2013 indie hit Joe, Arkansas director David Gordon Green drew a surprisingly sensitive performance from the larger-than-life Nicolas Cage in a poignant Southern-set coming-of-age story. Sadly, lightning hasn't struck twice. Featuring Al Pacino - another movie star given to self-parody - Manglehorn succeeds only in persuading the acting legend to take things down a notch or two. Pacino plays the title character, a Texas locksmith who lives alone with his cat. AJ Manglehorn has a fractious relationship with his son (Chris Messina), dotes on his granddaughter and flirts with local bank teller Dawn (Holly Hunter). But when Dawn tries to step things up, Manglehorn starts to back away - rather obviously for a story about a locksmith, his emotions are all chained up. But for how much longer? It's essentially a character piece, but one, sadly, that its more-than-capable leads can't do much with, as this trite, predictable love story lurches through various oddball set pieces to its cloying, sentimental climax.