Peter Falk is listed as one of the co-stars of Next, the ESP/time travel flick starring Nicolas Cage as a guy who can see two minutes into his own future. But really, the filmmakers shouldn't have bothered.
Sure, Falk, 79, shows up for one scene, playing formula role No. 27b in the Hollywood handbook: the irascible old codger to Cage's brash, adventurous hotshot. But Falk barely registers (he's onscreen only a couple minutes), and the part is absolutely inconsequential.
Chances are Falk's part was bigger in the original script but was trimmed for reasons we may never know. But when an actor of Falk's caliber has signed on for a piece of tripe like Next, shouldn't he be used to better advantage?
chris.kaltenbach @baltsun.com