Wild Oats: DVD Review
Arriving on DVD and On Demand October 4th is the comedy “Wild Oats”, starring Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Lang, Demi Moore, Billy Connelly, Howard Hesseman, and directed by Andy Tennant (“Hitch”). That is a very impressive cast of seasoned pros. Unfortunately, “Wild Oats” feels like a poorly written Lifetime movie which is fitting since that is where it originally aired.
Eva (MacLaine) is a retired history teacher whose husband just passed away. Her daughter Crystal (Moore) is eager for Eva to sell the house and move into a retirement community. The only person in Eva’s life that actually listens to Eva is her best friend of forty years, Maddie (Lange).
When Eva receives her late-husband’s life insurance check, she is shocked to see that it was for $5,000,000, instead of the $50,000 she was expecting. Her initial instinct is to call the insurance company, but after spending hours with the automated phone system and not being able to reach a representative (which we have all gone through), Maddie talks her into depositing the check.
It isn’t long before the best friends decided to spend some of that money and go on a trip to a beautiful island. That decision was partly inspired by Maddie’s news that she is actually quite ill herself and may not have long to live. In the meantime, senior life insurance agent Vespucci (Hesseman) travels to the island with Crystal with the sole purpose of taking Eva into custody before she spends all of that money. He better hurry, because a con-man (Connelly) also has his sights set on the fortune.
It’s a shame that “Wild Oats” is so mediocre. It is such a treat to have all these wonderful actors on screen together and despite having some good chemistry, they are saddled with a really sub-par script. There is no need to sow these wild oats.
By: Marc Ferman