"Phil" is a lightweight comedy/drama in which the filmmaker's heart is in the right place.
Greg Kinnear is outstanding in carrying the film about a hapless, despondent dentist searching for the truth about life. He also skillfully directs the film with an especially fine touch for pacing. For some of the greatest wisdom pertaining to the film's main theme, the action shifts to ancient Greece and the thinker Socrates, who proclaimed that "the unexamined life is not worth living."
Such an examination unfolds in an unorthodox way as dentist Phil impersonates Spiros, an old friend from Greece of the late Michael Fisk. Fisk was briefly a patient of dentist Phil, whose life begins to unravel when Fisk, whom Phil believed was the perfect man, took his own life.
The comic scenes are well played by Kinnear with excellent timing and understatement. Emily Mortimer is good as the widow Fisk, who takes a liking to Spiros and turns her house over to him for a remodeling project. The comic bits are fun as Phil scrambles to make people believe that he is a genuine Greek.
In the end, there is a heart-warming and endearing quality to Phil's character. He means to bring no harm to the widow. He is only searching for the truth in order to heal his own wounded soul. While Phil does not entirely follow Socrates' advice, he nonetheless pursues the journey of truth with good intentions. And intentions do matter in life, even if one's is behaving like a pill.
Greg Kinnear is outstanding in carrying the film about a hapless, despondent dentist searching for the truth about life. He also skillfully directs the film with an especially fine touch for pacing. For some of the greatest wisdom pertaining to the film's main theme, the action shifts to ancient Greece and the thinker Socrates, who proclaimed that "the unexamined life is not worth living."
Such an examination unfolds in an unorthodox way as dentist Phil impersonates Spiros, an old friend from Greece of the late Michael Fisk. Fisk was briefly a patient of dentist Phil, whose life begins to unravel when Fisk, whom Phil believed was the perfect man, took his own life.
The comic scenes are well played by Kinnear with excellent timing and understatement. Emily Mortimer is good as the widow Fisk, who takes a liking to Spiros and turns her house over to him for a remodeling project. The comic bits are fun as Phil scrambles to make people believe that he is a genuine Greek.
In the end, there is a heart-warming and endearing quality to Phil's character. He means to bring no harm to the widow. He is only searching for the truth in order to heal his own wounded soul. While Phil does not entirely follow Socrates' advice, he nonetheless pursues the journey of truth with good intentions. And intentions do matter in life, even if one's is behaving like a pill.