Nobody's Fool

Nobody's Fool (1994) is a warmly observed American comedy-drama directed by Robert Benton — watch it online on iFILM. Paul Newman plays Sully Sullivan, a sixty-year-old handyman in a small upstate New York town who owns no car, carries no plans, and somehow owes money to the same man he's suing for a workplace injury.

Sully works under the table for his nemesis, flirts with that man's wife (Melanie Griffith), owes a friendly cop (Bruce Willis) for years of overlooked violations, and discovers he has a grown son he barely knows. Adapted from Richard Russo's novel, the film also features early work from Philip Seymour Hoffman and one of Jessica Tandy's final screen appearances. Newman took the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama — a performance built entirely on understatement.

This is less a film about redemption and more a portrait of a man who made a mess of things and somehow kept going. For that, it works beautifully. Stream Nobody's Fool (1994) online on iFILM.