type: Movie genre: Drama release date: 11/03/17 performer: Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne director: Richard Linklater mpaa: R As a showcase for a trio of excellent American actors working in a somber, naturalistic key as they shoot the bull, hit the road, and reminisce about the men they used to be and the trouble they once got into, Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying is a modest, bittersweet thing of beauty.

I don’t know how the director arrived at the threesome of Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne (their names might have been picked out of a hat for all I know), but they have terrific chemistry.

They need to, because that chemistry covers up a myriad of sins including a story that can be at times maddeningly withholding and frustratingly obvious.

Carrel’s Doc wants his two estranged former-Marine friends to join him on a road trip to Dover Air Force Base to pick up his son’s casket and accompany him to the burial in Arlington.

And Carell carries the burden of loss on his character’s shoulders with great subtlety, occasionally letting loose with a hysterical, high-pitched squealing laugh when the tragic storyline need it the most.