Originally listed for a 2020 debut, this comedy just released this year rather unceremoniously onto video on demand, and later Paramount Plus. I’m sure when you hear that, along with the realization this film has no available audio description, you’d assume it was just another critically underfunded film that just didn’t have it in the budget. My counter to that would be, if the stars of this film, who likely all hand nice paychecks, contributed a little portion they wouldn’t even notice, no matter the budget, they could have collectively made their film accessible. Starring Oscar winners Robert DeNiro, Tommy Lee Jones, Morgan freeman, as well as Zach Brad, there’s room for audio description. And, with three of those lead actors being at least 78 years old, I might even argue the film’s target demographic is likely to have some visual impairment.
but, this got buried, and likely because the film is basically an ill timed dark turn on Mel brooks’ The Producers. The more experienced producer (DeNiro) tells his greener partner (Braff) that he has a great idea for their next film. Really, he’s in debt to a mafia type (Freeman), and is convinced that if he starts making a film that the lead actor accidentally dies on set, the insurance payoff will be more than what he needs. So, he seeks out old retired actors, and finds the legend (jones) he needs. A washed up former western star, he’s sure to be easy to kill off in an onset accident on this new western. Right?
in case a comedy about actively killing off someone on the set of a western doesn’t strike you as an odd choice for a film, then you have made it without hearing anything about rust, or Alec Baldwin. While his was an accident, it still is way too close to home, and thus The comeback Trail was given this muted release with no consideration to accessibility. Honestly, the film isn’t bad. it is clearly a knockoff, and i disliked the overly quirky score, but the actors really are trying to make this work. i couldn’t get all the set ups for the stunts trying to kill off Jones, but it was funny how he kept somehow proving everyone wrong.
if you are really interested, you should be able to get it on Paramount Plus without having to spend money directly on a title with no audio description. If you don’t need accessibility, this is probably one of the more watchable abandoned releases that was sent straight to video on demand, though it is hard to ignore the parallels.
Final grade: unwatchable due to Lack Of Audio description
