User Reviews

(Mauro Lanari) The Bacons devise a cross-class romance with mirrored issues: wealth and poverty, menopause and prostatitis, relational tensions between a husband too old and a daughter too young. A portrait of messy Boomer fragility, torn between tenderness and sexuality, "The Best You Can" suffers from a surfeit of self-indulgent absolution.

Talk about meet cute: Kevin Bacon plays a security guard who tries to foil a robbery by breaking into the home of a client (Kyra Sedgwick). Their relationship develops as he reveals his health issues and she happens to be a doctor. She’s also married to a much older man (Judd Hirsch) who’s experiencing dementia. Of course, the inevitable happens when the couple’s friendship goes deeper. This is the first time in 20 years that this husband/wife duo has been in a film together and their chemistry is still solid. Bacon turns in a pleasing performance, while Sedgwick glows with light and energy. Writer/director Michael J. Weithorn (best know for creating “The King of Queens”) has created fun banter to amplify their relationship, while not getting too deep into the emotions. This film isn’t especially memorable, but it’s enjoyable to watch Bacon & Sedgwick expanding their long-lived relationship.

"The Best You Can" is a far too easy a film to invest in affectionately will diverge audiences, to be sure. With strong performances and a fresh premise about an unexpected friendship in middle age, but far too many creaky comic tropes, the uneven film is always watchable but never pops off the screen in a gripping way.