3/5 A movie sandwich: delicious filling, stale bread.
  by Miles D. Moore (Alexandria, VA USA)
Baillie Walsh's "Flashbacks of a Fool" has a warm, touching middle section that almost makes up for the aridity of the sequences that begin and end it. Joe Scot (Daniel Craig) is yet another Hollywood burnout, a once-stellar leading man whose career is on the rocks because of his addictions to drugs, booze, and sex. Then Joe gets a phone call from his mother in England: his best childhood friend has suddenly died. The story then flashes back 25 years to the teenage Joe (Harry Eden) and the summer of his sexual awakening in his idyllic seaside-resort home town. Filmed in lovely, rich colors by cinematographer John Matheson and filled with interesting characters, this middle section ends with an appalling tragedy that explains both Joe's flight from his home town and his later excesses of behavior. However, the middle-aged Joe and the Hollywood types surrounding him are totally unappealing. The film's final sequence, showing Joe's return home after decades away, blessedly manages to avoid sentimentality, but also avoids being much of anything else. In addition to that, the film has one of the worst, most badly sung theme songs in cinematic history. "Flashbacks of a Fool" is worth seeing for its middle section and Matheson's photography. However, I must say that I loved the flashbacks, but not the fool.

4/5 A better role for Daniel Craig than 007
  by Cristian (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
One of Daniel Craig's best performances, and a much interesting character than the ones he played on "Quantum of Solace" (007) or "Defiance".
The film deals with a famous British actor in his early forties, living in L.A., who has forgotten the real important things in life, and depends only on drugs, easy girls and his maid as the apparently only person who shows some interest in his well-being.
When his mother calls him from England to inform him that his best friend, who he hasn't seen for over twenty years, has just passed away, a lot of flashbacks come to his mind. He recalls various passages of his teen age. Between them, his first sex experience with an elder young married woman; as well as the moment when he fall in love with the coolest girl in town, and lost her because of a silly mistake he made.
He decides to go back to the U.K. to find something that has been lost forever: His innocence and happiness, in a sort of a nostalgic Citizen Kane's "Rosebud" way.


3/5 Takes a LONG time to get interesting, but in the end manages to be worthwhile
  by RMurray847 (Albuquerque, NM United States)
There are a fair number of things to admire about FLASHBACKS OF A FOOL, although I must say right here and now that the title is NOT one of them! I cannot believe that anyone thought this would make an enticing title in any way, shape or form.

It tells the story of Joe Scot (Daniel Craig), a very successful film star who has fallen into a life of decadence, drug-use and debauchery. He lives in a gorgeous house on the sea somewhere and appears to have it all. Yet he is depressed, miserable, stoned constantly and apparently has become something of a persona non grata in the film industry. (And most critically, he's just received word from his mother that his old childhood friend "Boots" has just died suddenly.) At a meeting with his agent and a very "artsy" director, he behaves a little poorly and his agent is so enraged the informs Scot that no one wants to work with him because he's getting old and he's so unreliable and unpleasant. And his agent fires him on the spot.

Scot sinks deeper into despair about himself, and during a low, contemplative moment, he has one very long flashback about a few key days in his life when he was around 16 or 17 years old.

During this brief time in his youth, Scot has his earliest sexual experiences (with an inappropriate partner), takes a strong interest in a fiery, intelligent and beautiful girl that he's known for years, and he experiences a horrific tragedy that will forever change his life. We'll also get an idea of why 25 years later, hearing of his friend's death would send him into depression.

Harry Eden, who played Artful Dodger in the most recent remake of OLIVER TWIST, is the young Joe. He's certainly handsome enough to believe that women all around him would be drawn to him, and he is relatively convincing as a young Daniel Craig.

Olivia Williams has the thankless role of Joe's mother, who spends virtually every scene of the movie in the kitchen of the modest home, making food. Jodhi May is the sexy next-door neighbor...a woman clearly bored by her life as a housewife and mother. Felicity Jones plays Ruth, the girl with whom Joe becomes enamored during one evening, as the two enjoy a rather odd but sweet "first date" at Ruth's house.

For a huge chunk of the movie, the character of Joe Scot, whether young or old, is VERY unlikable and unsympathetic. Craig mostly has to play Scot as a man who feels entitled to whatever he wants, but nothing he wants (and gets) actually makes him feel better or behave better. Eden plays the young Scot as a bit of a mopey teen. This may be realistic, but it doesn't make it entertaining. You just want to SMACK this character!

It isn't until the wonderful night Joe shares with Ruth that we begin to see a softening of the character. Felicity Jones has been given a character of a teenage girl who is clearly mature beyond her years, and not interested in just any boy. She wants to be moved and challenged. AND she dearly loves David Bowie and Roxy Music...so spends lot of time in her house listening to their music. During one odd but touching moment (the moment that Joe really SEES Ruth as the unique and desirable person she is), she dances and lip-synchs to Bryan Ferry. It's one of those moments when we see how a person can suddenly become SO attractive to another. My interest in the film (which was now halfway done) finally picked up as I realized I actually had some characters care about finally.

Things don't go as well as we'd hope, and soon Joe's life takes a dramatic and unhappy turn. So when Daniel Craig's version of Joe decides to return to his hometown for his friend's funeral, a lot of old feelings well up. And we finally see Craig showing his acting chops. He is actually remarkably effective in his final scenes. Claire Forlani appears in a couple of very touching scenes as well (I won't say more about her character). And Emilia Fox does a great job playing Joe's younger sister, who we first met as a little girl but is now a grown woman who is totally unimpressed by her brother's movie star status, and is the perfect person to cut Joe down to size when he needs it.

Much of the dialogue of this movie is clunky, particularly early on. The scene where Craig meets with his agent is just full of "you'll never work in this town again" cliché. The poor dialogue didn't help make it easier to warm up to these characters. To be quite honest, I almost didn't bother to finish the film. But FINALLY it managed to find its groove, and by the time the final scene came along, I was fairly interested and invested in the characters.

So the movie offers modest pleasures, particularly if you'd like to see Daniel Craig playing something a little more down-to-earth. A number of nice performances, some lovely scenery, and some genuinely moving scenes. It's still a bit clunky, and I spent much of the time wondering how anyone even pulled together funding to get this film made...but you might find it worth a look. I give it a very modest recommendation.


3/5 Have seen better...
  by Shyam Sundar (Seattle, WA USA)
Definitely there are better movies out there that capture lives of movie stars. I found the pace of the movie very slow and lacking dept (considering the fact that I do enjoy non mainstream independent movies). Daniel Craig gives a good performance but he cannot save the movie.

4/5 FOR ONCE, DANIEL CRAIG ACTS WELL
  by Harkanwar Anand (Corona, New York)
It has been years and probably it has never happened. I have never left the theater after having watched a Daniel Craig and said to myself without any contamination of thought that the film I just saw was good. In other words, I have found almost all of Daniel Craig films terribly unbecoming and uninteresting. And then I read this review from quite an acclaimed Top 10 reviewer of Amazon that said that this film is worth the time. I didn't even know Craig was a part of the film then. Well, I just watched this film last night and from my facebook status to my conversations with people at work have largely been about this film. For lack of a better way to interpret my thoughts or from lack of life, I must say this film has truly left quite an impact on me. I loved how it is truly impossible to tell you just how many beautiful little fragments of life this film contains. An outstanding film with sea, friends, teenage life, a fine and attractive milf, beautiful music, pool, fishing, swearing, big buildings and most importantly a rather remarkable portrait of a man and his flashbacks.

It pierces my heart that this film has not been recognized. Internet movie database gives this film a measly 6.8/10 but don't let that get to you. A truly outstanding film. I am not going to give it five stars cause I don't lie on Wednesdays. Have fun.