In The Leisure Seeker, a strong-willed suburban retiree (Helen Mirren) finds her longtime husband (Donald Sutherland) sinking into Alzheimer’s. Having been a teacher who has found the greatest joy in his recall of literature, the impact of the memory disease will be very specific. Facing a health issue of her own, she decides to take him on a road trip all the way down the Eastern Seaboard to Ernest Hemingway’s house in Key West. Off they go in their trusty Winnebago and adventures ensue.
There’s plenty of humor here, and this is not a particularly heartbreaking Alzheimer’s movie. Mirren and Sutherland are both just so good in their roles. Sutherland’s hubby is good-natured as long as he can pilot his 20-foot RV and get a decent hamburger without having to learn a restaurant server’s first name; he slips into a literary revelry at the slightest provocation. Mirren is the social navigator, now faced with corralling somebody who now dips into another reality.
It’s the first American film for the accomplished Italian director Paolo Virzi (Like Crazy). Unfortunately, there’s just something about the iconic American road trip and, perhaps, America itself that Virzi just doesn’t get, and The Leisure Seeker never quite ascends to greatness.
I was amused more than thrilled or moved by The Leisure Seeker. Yet the performances of Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland can justify catching the movie.