Directed by Giorgio Serafini
Written by Kurt Brungardt, Christopher Momenee
Starring William Shatner, Jean Smart, Christopher Lloyd
Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
In theaters and on demand March 26

by Stacey Osbeck, Staff Writer

Victor (William Shatner) is a 72 year old retiree who once test piloted jets for NASA.  Now he zips around Palm Springs, California in his vintage silver Porsche along with his lifelong friend Sal (Christopher Llyod). When stripped of his license and car due to reckless drag racing, Victor loses a big part of his identity.  Until he can successfully pass the driving test at the DMV, he’ll have to maneuver through town and life without the thing that makes him him, his car.   

Senior Moment taps into a lot of deeply engrained Southern California ethos. To be old is to be irrelevant.  The most important thing a woman can bring to the table is to be hot. The bus is for losers.   

These notions are addressed early in the picture. When an old pal rolls into the bar on a mobility scooter, Victor and his friends don’t invite him over or even acknowledge him. They stare and gossip with pitying eyes. He asks the model, draped on his silver car for the ‘Sweet Rides Magazine’ cover shoot, to take a picture with him so he can make his friends jealous, later inviting her out for the same purpose. The bus, however, does not seems to transport any losers.   

Victor goes on more grocery runs than any normal person should in a 30 day period. Especially since he lives alone and in a house. Is there no pantry? No meats and veg in the freezer? However, the grocery store seems to be the only excuse he has to get on the bus where he meets Caroline (Jean Smart). A meet cute ensues.   

He sees something special in Caroline and strives to win her over at the local art auction she organized.  To his shock she has another suitor he has to compete with who is fit, hot and speaks in a Latin lover accent.  This leads to a very satisfying moment where Victor realizes just because Caroline has past the age of 25, she’s not sitting around doing nothing, waiting for a man.  She used to be a photographer for National Geographic, now runs her own café and art gallery and holds auctions for causes she feels passionate about like protecting desert tortoises.  Unlike Victor, she’s not coasting on past successes or the glamour of a silver Porsche.  She’s a catch and he’s the one that needs to up his game.   

Given the cast, William Shatner and Christopher Lloyd specifically, I hoped there’d be some Star Trek or Back to the Future Easter eggs.  Early in the film there’s a reimagining of Marty McFly’s Back to the Future Part III drag race with Flea, trigger word: chicken.  But as the movie went on it became painfully clear this was not a call back.  It was just a duplicate scene the writers used because either they never saw the whole trilogy or hope the audience hadn’t.   

Victor’s past involves NASA and I waited patiently for the ‘I always regretted never getting to go into space’ type punchline (I mean it’s William Shatner for Pete’s sake).  If you’re not going to go that route so be it, but don’t absentmindedly set it up and then not deliver. Most of the jokes were about being old.  They could have expanded their audience by recognizing people probably tuned in for the nostalgia this cast delivers, not the storyline of an impounded Porsche. 

Although the film stars older white actors, whose time may be coming to a close, the film created a staging ground to showcase upcoming talent, many from groups underrepresented in Hollywood.  A sort of passing of the torch.  Two notables: Maya Stojan (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) and Carlos Miranda (The Bling Ring) appear to have gained traction over the years and I hope to see more of them in the future.       

Even with its missteps Senior Moment is a light feel good film which perfectly encapsulates the essence that makes people fall in love with Palm Springs, a carefree life and community where strangers can just as easily become lovers and friends.