Last Orders

Four Englishmen respect the final request of a pub pal (Michael Caine) and take a road trip to scatter his ashes off the pier of a seaside resort. The all-star Gosford Park-like casting includes Michael Caine as the deceased East London butcher. Caine is joined in this classy but dry, lackluster trip down memory lane by Bob Hoskins as World World II cronie, David Hemmings as ex-boxer turned green grocer, Tom Courtenay as undertaker, Ray Winstone as adopted son, Helen Mirren as his wife (the British Six Degrees of Separation equivalent of Kevin Bacon) and Laura Morelli as retarded daughter. Flashbacks unfurl personal secrets, dreams, weaknesses, betrayals and the trials of friendship in a story about closure and moving forward. Written and directed by Australian Fred Schepisi. Adapted from Graham Swift’s novel.