For One More Day follows the story of Charles "Chick" Benetto through the journey to the lowest point in his life, and back out again. Before he is able to follow through with his suicide plans, his mother, Posey, comes back to him -- for one last day together. As Chick and Posey travel through their town on stops to visit old friends, Chick gets answers to questions that have haunted him throughout his life. He also gets one last chance to say the things to his mother that he never had the chance to say when she was alive.
- The film followed the story line of the book well.
- The high quality of production kept it from feeling like a made-for-tv movie.
- The award winning cast provided a believable story.
- The film version did no spark as much emotion as the book.
- Details were lost in condensing the story.
- It was difficult to connect with the characters.
Premiered December 9, 2007 at 9pm on ABC.
Stars Emmy winner Michael Imperioli as Chick Benetto.
Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn plays the elder Posey Benetto.
Samantha Mathis acts as young Posey, and the film introduces Michael Imperioli's son, Vadim, as young Chick Benetto.
As is commonly known, the book is always better than the movie, or so the saying goes. Having read For One More Day, and being familiar with the story line and details, I was somewhat let down by how the film version did little for my emotions. I am a fan of Mitch Albom's books, and read through them quickly because the story lines flow so well. While the movie did its job to tell the story of Chick Benetto, in the 2 hour network time slot it was given, it lost inspiration in translation.
The idea of having one last day with a loved one, and getting the chance to make things right - to say the things you didn't say - is a beautiful one. But because of the amount of information and details that were missing, it was hard to connect closely with the characters. Without that connection, it made it hard to care about whether Chick decided to live or die.
If given the chance, I would watch the film again. While it's not perfect, it does a good job at telling the main parts of the story. In the end, we are still left with the question - What would you do with one more day?
