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I became a playwright in 1996, having been an avid theatregoer throughout my life (averaging around 120 plays a year – watching, not writing!) I semi-retired from my day job shortly thereafter and for the next 25 years I worked only part-time, allowing me time to write. I ventured briefly into the world of television and wrote a couple of screenplays, although this pretty much came to nothing, except for TAPS making a short film of one of my scripts starring (a virtually unknown) Benedict Cumberbatch and Georgia Mackenzie, which was cool, and sufficient to get me BAFTA membership. Since the pandemic, theatre in the UK has never really found its way back to what it used to be, and so my attention has drifted more towards film. I am now fully retired from my day job and whilst I still visit the theatre two or three times a month, I now watch upwards of 500 films a year (crazy, but true!) Since I watch so many films and can write, I decided to create a blog – it seemed a very 21st-Century thing to do.
REVIEW: The last One for the Road ★★★★☆

REVIEW: The last One for the Road ★★★★☆

The last One for the Road is a 2025 comedy-drama road movie directed by Francesco Sossai, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Adriano Candiago. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025 and was released in the UK on 10 July 2026.

You know that moment when you arrive at the pub only to find that all your friends have been drinking for three hours and you are sober and on a completely different wavelength? That is how this film hit me. However, twenty minutes later I was hooked – it has an infectious quality.

Carlobianchi (Sergio Romano) and Doriano (Pierpaolo Capovilla) are two broke men in their fifties obsessed with the constant search for one more drink. Some time ago they made a lot of money fraudulently with their pal Genio (Andrea Pennacchi), who buried his share and ran away to Argentina when the going got tough. Our two chancers invested their share in a quality car, in which they now drive around, from drink to drink. They head to Venice to meet Genio on his return from his self-imposed exile, but go to the wrong airport by mistake. However, in Venice they meet up with shy, young, love-sick Architecture student Guilio (Filippo Scotti) and take him with them on their alcoholic odyssey.

That is not the plot, it is the set-up. I am not going to make any attempt to summarise the plot, as it would be a little like trying to summarise the plot in Waiting for Godot, and indeed there are echoes of Samuel Beckett here, albeit Beckett seen through an alcoholic haze. Whilst Beckett’s pair wait for Godot, these two chancers are waiting for the last drink; Godot never comes, and nor of course does the last drink, because there is always another one around the corner.

The trio work remarkably well together, with Guilio adding a more serious and down-to-earth dimension to the boozy duo. Amongst other things he takes them on a detour to Carlo Scarpa’s Brion Tomb in San Vito d’Altivole near Treviso – an awesome monument.

The last One for the Road is fun. It does not take itself too seriously. So long as you are happy to go along for the ride then this is a very pleasant way to spend 100 minutes, or so.

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