Delivering Milo

Plot synopsis:
Elizabeth believes she has gone into labor, but at the hospital, the doctor tells her she was having Braxton Hicks contractions. The reality is that in the world from which babies come, Milo is too scared to leave the comfortable place where he has lived. Since babies must be born in order, no other babies will be born until Milo changes his mind. The people in charge give the job of educating Milo to Elmore, who is in a kind of limbo until he proves he is worthy of Heaven.
Elmore and Milo go out the door which normally serves only as an entrance. Outside is the energetic and terrifying New York City. Elmore loves it, but Milo doesn't want to be in this scary place.
The big news story is the lack of births anywhere.
Elmore eventually takes Milo to Atlantic City, where he loved to gamble when he was alive. Elizabeth also ends up in Atlantic City. Milo's mind is not changed and there is a deadline. A door will close and no more babies will ever be born. In Atlantic City, Elizabeth meets Milo, who realizes Elizabeth is his mother, and decides he wants to be born. He also realizes Elmore is the father who abandoned Elizabeth.

Tags: romantic

Review:
I saw this movie just a few hours ago at the Cleveland International Film Festival and I found it to be an excellent movie.I must strongly disagree with the other reviewers who've panned the movie.I'll admit that the movie has a few Hollywood elements and better-than-indie production values.
I found it well-crafted, well-acted (Albert Finney is just terrific) and for a movie with a bit of fantasy, very much believable on that level with few plot holes.
Yes, you just might figure out a few things half or three-quarters of the way thru the flick, but so what.I would urge anyone thinking about seeing this movie to reject the too-critical reviews.
This movie delivers what it promises - a good yarn, told, acted and directed well.On a slightly peripheral note, I see that this movie, finished in 2000, has yet to find a distributor.
While I don't have time to go into the detail that the previous reviewer provided, I have a completely different take on "Delivering Milo." I enjoyed the film as did my children and I believe it will generate plenty of word of mouth recommendations and have a strong life in video.
Albert Finney does a great job as the n'er-do-well from Limbo and Bridget Fonda never looked more beautiful as a nine-months-pregnant woman.
Albert Finney shines as the "guardian angel" sent down to Earth to (so he thinks) help "some kid" see within a 24 hour day that the life the kid was about to begin would be worth living.
Refusing to "be born" would not only end the kid's life, but also that of all babies who were to be born henceforth.The premise is even more outrageous than that certain 1946 Frank Capra "sleeper", but I still enjoyed this film very much.
Seeing the "man-about-town" Finney character enjoy his "day back on his own turf", constantly loored by temting women from his past, is fun to watch.
When at the very end Finney gives up on the kid who seems to have made up his mind NOT to "go for the deal", the old man (and the kid) make a discovery that changes everything.Regarding those who criticised the casting choices of the "Heavenly Officials", I strongly disagree here as well.
A classic story of redemption, Delivering Milo has great performances, humor, and perhaps a few tears.
If you're looking for a positive message, Delivering Milo delivers.Aside from the sentimental value it's also an excellent creative concept.
But hey, if you're feeling too good about life after this film, just watch the evening news, that'll slap you back to reality..
I had a friend who was pregnant at the time and thought the movie would be great fun for her.
for the others, I suppose, it is a great film for admirable performances, for a story sweet-bitter, for Bridget Fonda performance and for Albert Finney proposing a real provocative perspective about duty of an angel and the virtues of friendship.
If a movie should be judged against other films of its genre, then this is one of the best.
If you like "new agey" fantasy stories along the lines of "What Dreams May Come" and "Somewhere in Times," you really need to see "Milo".Finney plays the role he was born to play--in fact he's been playing this role all his life.
Briget Fonda's character is also over-the-top, but oddly believable in this very unbelievable fantasy.Although low-budget, the film is masterfully acted and edited.
Delivering Milo is a fantastic journey into the world that humans are unsure evens exists.
Albert Finney also fills his roll as a high life gambler well.
In all Delivering Milo is a good movie..
This movie really made me realize the better things about life.
In my opinion, Albert Finney, no matter how hammy his acting was, did quite well considering what kind of character he was playing.
Anton Yelchin also wasn't bad, but I hated the character he was playing, for I feel that Milo was acting selfish and annoying.
the idea is nice , Albert Finney does a decent work, Anton Yelchin is adorable, spiritual and touching, Bridget Fonda and Campbell Scott are not bad choices but that is not new discovery.
I'm not sure if the plot is interesting or just silly: it's about a little boy who is about to be born, but as his mother goes into labor, he refuses to come out!
This sends God and the whole human being factory into a crisis and Albert Finney is called out of purgatory to try and convince the boy to change his mind and decide to want to be born.
So Finney takes the unborn boy for an adventure in the Big Apple in hopes of showing him all the reasons he should want to live.Despite the ridiculousness of the plot, I could have accepted it if the director had not tried to turn this into your typical Hollywood sentimental moralistic message film.
Directorially, the film was rendered unbearable by a horrible soundtrack of the stock sentimental music that Hollywood directors seem incapable of resisting.He further butchered the somewhat unconventional story by giving away its hand at every moment.
Whatever twists and turns were in store in the plot were completely given away by the way the story unraveled.
It was as if the director assumed the audience is just a bunch of idiots who cannot see the obvious hints coming from a mile away.Even Finney in his performance, though satisfactory, seemed a bit awkward and out of place; and the little boy with curly locks, though he was supposed to be cute, was in fact rather dull.
Bridget Fonda seemed intent on trying to duplicate Demi Moore's performance in 'Ghost', shedding tears at a moment's notice.I understand that the film has been unsuccessful thus far at getting distribution in the U.S., which surprises me as I think it has the box office potential to be a modest hit, appealing to both kids and sentimental adults.
I have four published books on the NDE and natural spirituality -- I wish I had thought up this story myself.This plot is excellent.For anyone who has or believes in sychronicities and serendipity -- this movie goes right to the heart.
And, Bridget Fonda plays a believable role as the mother to be who is so traumatized by her father's abandonment when she was a child.
Probably a bad combination: watching a movie like this while reading William Goldman's "Which Lie Did I Tell?", among other things an incisive (and often hilarious) dissection of all the things that can go wrong in the development of a screenplay.
So, here I am in an airplane, with "Which Lie Did I Tell?" in my lap, and "Delivering Milo" on the screen...If I had to give the shortest accounting of the problem with "Milo," it would be: if you know where you're going, the journey better be the part with the surprises.
Albert Finney was good in many places, but has morphed distractingly into William "Priceline" Shatner's doppleganger in appearance.
I kept thinking this would have been a *great* showcase role for George Carlin; he would have put quite a bit more edge and humor into it.Bridget Fonda was fine but not spectacular, the actor playing her husband veers heavily into Robert Hays territory, and Lesley Ann Warren is pretty much wasted as yet another brassy dame, a muted turn on her role in Victor/Victoria.
At the store this film looks very attractive, not because of the price, but because the cast includes Bridget Fonda and Albert Finney, two versatile masters of cinema.
The title sends us to a story of childhood times and when you want to became a father in the nearest years it sounds perfect to start a night for two Then, I bought it without previously took a carefully look at the IMDb rating or comments, something that I usually do before spending some precious Euros (it cost 5 in sale).Even as I gave it the rating 5/10, I'm grateful that I didn't search the IMDb, because I wouldn't bought it and if truth be told it was a good deal.
The film is everything less than perfect, but it has a meaning, a message, a intention that you rarely see in this kind of movie, that in fact, isn't a kids or a grown one, but a family motion picture, that you should see all together, and use it to give your children a lesson of life, nothing else, as it isn't entertaining.Bridget Fonda and Albert Finney are extremely right for the position, and if their name wasn't enough, almost all the rest of the cast are so bad that they are the only who really seems professionals.
Without special filming locations, visual effects or a great additional score, it's the type of picture that you'll think many times that you're really just spending your priceless time, however you'll get a smile and be surprised at the end, so moving and unpredicted that you'll never forget...
"Delivering Milo" is a mild fantasy set between earth and a mythical place where young children are waiting their turn to be born.
It's sort of an eternal kids' domain where children around seven years old wait until it's their turn to enter life.
They then walk through a door into a bright light and the next scene is a mother delivering a baby.
Milo is a boy who doesn't want to leave the comfort of the place he's in.
He's in some other place that's not purgatory or hell, and he comes to take Milo in his current age to New York city to see what life is really like.
Albert Finney plays Elmore Dahl, who has charge of Milo for this one day or two.
Another part of the story is about Milo's mother and father, as they wait for his delivery.
After one day in which no children were born anywhere in the world, Milo meets his mom and decides to take the step to be born.
Except for Bridget Fonda and Campbell Scott as Milo's parents, the characters and story seem listless.
But, for the life of me, I can't see what some other reviewers find is so uplifting in this film.
Unless it's Milo's desire at the end to be born.
Well, in the case of Milo, a young angelic child who loves to play card tricks with the other children in heaven, he is not at all convinced he wants to abandon his present quarters for an unsure time on earth.Never fear, Elmore Dahl, who has been also in the same area, although not where Milo is residing, is enlisted to accompany the boy for a tour of what would be his new home: Manhattan.
The first thing Elmore does is to take the young boy, who is having a hard time adjusting to his new surroundings, shopping at Bloomingdale's.
After all, if he is going to reside in New York City, he'd better be well dressed!
Elizabeth, the young mother to be, has had problems in her own life.
When she appears to be ready to deliver, it turns to be a false alarm, because of Milo's refusal to be born at that moment.Life on earth turns out to be what Elmore was looking for.
When he meets an attractive woman, they take a side trip to Atlantic City, bringing Milo along because, since the boy is lucky playing cards, he wants to capitalize on the fact.
Elizabeth, who also had come to Atlantic City because she feels lucky too, meets Milo and bond.
This convinces Milo to take the trip back to earth, but Elmore is duped since he has to bring the boy back, and he will not be able to go out again.
Since his job is accomplished Elmore receives a complimentary move "upstairs".Nick Castle's film is a fantasy.
While most comments in this forum tend to be negative, we thought it was a light comedy with charming characters, and although we realize where Mr. Castle is taking us, the ride proves to be fun.The film marks the film debut of Anton Yelchin, an angelic looking child actor, who has gone to bigger, and better, things.
Albert Finney appears as Elmore, the man who dares to bargain with a superior force.
Mr. Finney is fine conveying what this man is like and he gets to recognize where he went wrong in his own life.
Bridget Fonda plays Elizabeth, the expecting mother.
Leslie Ann Warren, Allison Lohman, and the others in the cast to a good job under Mr. Castle's direction.Watching this film without expectations will probably will have the right effect on the viewer thanks to Nick Castle and his collaborators..
Her husband Kevin appears to have some sort of blue-collar job, which is unusual, but he seems fine with his wife having a job that has more prestige and probably pays more than his.In another world (I didn't understand this and assumed we were seeing the child's future) Milo is misbehaving when he's supposed to be lining up in the room where all the new babies go.
But Milo is too frightened of this mystery place and runs away.Back in the "real world" Elizabeth appears to go into labor, but nothing happens and the doctor calls it Braxton-Hicks.
Elizabeth and Kevin return home and find more stress, and eventually Elizabeth starts wanting more from life.Milo, on the other hand, has caused a crisis in his world.
In the real world, the big news story is the lack of births anywhere.Someone must accompany Milo to the real world and show him it is not such a bad place.
That man is Elmore.No one is supposed to leave this wonderful place.
And so it happens--Elmore and Milo exit "the" door into the bustling New York City.Elmore is excited.
companionship.Elmore has 72 hours to change Milo's mind, OR ELSE.
But once no more babies are born--ever--that's the end of the human race.Meanwhile, Elizabeth must solve her problems.
And the description of her father sounds a lot like someone we know ...Albert Finney does an amazing job.
He is the perfect blue-collar New Yorker who isn't quite perfect but who is everyone's friend.Anton Yelchin does a good job too.
Milo is just naughty enough and just appealing enough, but not overly sweet.I didn't care much for Bridget Fonda, but she is attractive.It was disappointing to me to see the woman I knew as Cinderella playing a bimbo.
But she does a good enough job.This movie has important lessons to teach us about family and what is really important in life.
And while it has a few bad words and acknowledges that some people don't wait until marriage, it is a family movie that older children can watch.
At least I think so; I can't recall if it was edited.This movie delivers!.
When it comes to this movie, however, I'm not sure whether I believe in the big set or the little set.
In some ways the premise is familiarthere's a heaven, of sorts, where children hang out waiting for the appropriate time to be born.
One of the children is Milo (Anton Yelchin), a curly-headed kid adept at card tricks and telling fortunes.
The kids sit calmly in a big room, scooting over in line as each of their friends walks through the Door into the bright light and takes the mother's hand and gets born.
This means the next kid can't get born, and the team in the golden-light place are worried.
Meanwhile, in New York there's a couple waiting for their first child to be born, Elizabeth (Bridget Fonda) and Kevin (Campbell Scott).
The problem is Elizabeth, who is successful at whatever she does, and is well-dressed and quite lovely, and happy with Kevin, but she has doubts and self-doubts stemming from the fact that her father walked out on her and her mother when she was little.
And just at the time Milo is waiting in the Door chamber, she's going into labour, and then when he runs out, it stops.
Somebody is going to take Milo to the world for a day to induce him to agree to getting born.
It turns out to be Elmore Dahl (Albert Finney), a crusty, jovial, card-playing, con artist, who wasn't bad enough to go Downstairs but certainly wasn't good enough to go Upstairs.
Elmore and Milo take an elevator down to an intake unit, sort of a hotel lobby, also illuminated by the golden light, and out they go onto the streets of New York.
Milo wanders on the boardwalk and runs into a weeping Elizabeth, who's been reminded of her absent father, enjoyed a freakish run of good blackjack luck at home with a pack of Atlantic City cards, and then lost at the blackjack table.
Milo is drawn to her and tries to cheer her up, using the same techniques Elmore used on him, and it works.
Telling her fortune with a deck of cards, Milo realizes who she ishis motherand has a change of heart, and at the same time so does Elmore.
They almost don't make it back; Milo collapses outside the intake door as Elizabeth goes into labour again and Kevin shows up on his motorcycle to take care of her, and Elmorehis grandfatherhas to choose to carry him back, thus ending his brief reincarnation.
Mr. Gordon says "He works in mysterious ways." Milo is born, and suddenly births happen again.
In some ways the plot line is so predictable that one gets the feeling of déja vu, and yet it's done so cleverly, with a nice touch of dry humour in heaven, and with a gigantic performance by Finney, whose New York accent is pretty good, and who is both lovable and outrageous, and with solid performances by Fonda and Yelchin (the very gifted Campbell Scott is underused here)with all this working in its favour, the movie is surprisingly good in spite of its potential shortcomings.