Nobody's Fool MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +3 1/2 Content: -2 1/2

Paul Newman plays a 60-year-old man called "Sully" who has alienated himself from his family years earlier and believes he can get along just fine without them, thank you. A carpenter by trade, he rents a room in the home of his eighth grade school teacher, Mrs. Beryl (Jessica Tandy). She adores him, although they argue constantly. Bruce Willis plays his unsympathetic boss who cheats on his wife (Melanie Griffin). They all live in North Bath, New York, and, as Thanksgiving approaches, so does Sully's grown son. He's coming home with his wife and two young sons, but not to see his dad, as he's never forgiven Sully for leaving home. North Bath is a small town, however, so their paths cross and Sully meets his grandchildren for the first time. Sully's crusty surface begins to crumble as he bonds with the youngest child, and gradually he and his son learn to respect and forgive each other. Paul Newman will probably be nominated for an Oscar for this role, and deservedly so. There is nothing contrived about NOBODY'S FOOL, it's about real people with big hearts and small pocketbooks who can find humor in the most dismal circumstances.

Sully lives by his own rules, swearing, drinking, poker playing are all part of his daily routine. Yet he's the first to help a confused old lady find her way home, and the only one who treats his simple-minded helper as a friend. It's easy to see why he could not handle the constraints of marriage and responsibility. As Sully realizes the pain he has caused his son, he tries to rectify his mistakes by becoming a loving grandfather. Unfortunately, "real" dialogue among the neighborhood cronies includes many obscenities, profanities and crude references to sex. One especially offensive scene around the poker table involves a game of strip poker. Several men and one woman are sitting around the table. The young woman is obviously losing, as she is shown bare-breasted with the camera focused on her during the prolonged scene. Sully's temper gets him arrested one night when he drives his old truck down a sidewalk and crashes into a police car. The only woman he shows any interest in is his boss's wife, who exchanges suggestive banter with him. Once, as a joke, she even lifts her blouse to bare her breasts in front of him. The two make plans to run away together, but back out at the last minute. What a pity NOBODY'S FOOL zeros in on the distasteful language and crude behavior.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Paramount Communications Inc., 5 Columbia Circle, NY, NY 10023