Pluskylang Great Film overall

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

jamesd1967 Not a bad movie, but not a great one either. There doesn't seem to be much of a point to this movie. I got this movie because of the box, I love road trip style movies. The acting here is great, but the story fails to deliver much; it is very predictable. I guess that I would say that the best element of this film is the scenery of the United States. They show the best of the best, from Wyoming to Montana to the beaches to the deserts. To sum it up quickly, the lead character, Cal, is looking for a better life and hits the road in search of it, but sometimes the grass is not always greener on the other side. From state to state and female friend Billy Crudup plays this role well. Julianne Moore also does a fine job with her role in this movie.

B24 This curiosity filled the screen on Sundance recently and I found myself watching it right through to the end. In it, a thirty-something married man panics when he finds himself psychologically strained by an excess of responsibility on the one hand and too much testosterone on the other. Thus begins a cross country flight in his appropriately yuppie Volvo station wagon to find himself.What happens next is almost as preposterous as the apparent idea that there is anything likable about the guy at all. Like Tom Ewell in The Seven Year Itch, actor Crudup mugs his way through the vicissitudes of meeting one improbable and willowy blonde, brunette, or redhead (all of whom seem to be taller than he) after another. Each one is either too smothering or loony, offering him the altogether too-easy option of dumping them as he makes his way to Oregon to link up with his estranged father, who proves just as selfish and unpleasant as himself -- thus hastening a predictable conclusion in which he finally gets exactly what he doesn't deserve.It is not so much that there are innumerable geographical goofs in the film that annoy the hell out of me (most of it was either filmed from helicopters or in odd parts of Oregon and Alabama -- say what? -- including sudden impossible changes in weather and one shot of the Minneapolis airport with mountains in the background), but rather that the main character exudes an ambiguity unrelieved by a plot that goes nowhere.One interesting and commendable feature, however, is that of showing out-of-sequence flashes in his head that are alternately dreamlike and threatening. Although it's been done before, there is much to be said about this cinematic device as displayed here.

raymondduck I am one of those people that respect every film-maker as having achieved, each film I watch I usually respect(although I admit I select carefully) and appriciate for what it is. Not any more. This is truly one of the worst scripts I have seen produced as a film...so much so I felt compelled to warn others off it. The dialogue was truly unbelievable, the main protaganist was about the last person I would be interested in finding out more about. A scene were an old school friend 'tells it like it is' made me laugh only because it was a pathetic attempt to reveal the subtext of an already concluded plot. The direction is glib at best and at worst film-making by numbers. To compare this film to the atmospheric majesty of a film like Five Easy Pieces is a travesty.

lschmalz Billy Crudup stars in this slow moving film as "Cal", an architect who one day just walks out on his loving wife and son. What Cal is in search of we know not, but he is full of self-loathing for leaving and begins a drunken trek cross country. In his travels he meets a series of people who he treats like crap and then wallows in more self loathing and drink. The movie does end up with a moral; Cal realizes that he had it pretty good at home, but we don't realize this until we've sat through at least the first ninety minutes wondering where this movie and Cal, for that matter, are headed. Adding to the confusion are some flashback sequences that are never explained and have nothing to do with the ending what-so-ever. The only bright spot is when Cal meets up with Dulcie (Moore), and you think "Aha! I know where this movie is headed", and then it doesn't go that way at all. And that's a shame. Dulcie's story line is dropped just as the movie takes a turn towards being remotely interesting, and we are sent right back on Cal's boring journey. There is nothing redeemable in the character of Cal, and what he needs is a swift kick to the butt. Add to that a soundtrack that is ninety percent Willie Nelson songs, and you can see where a good shot of caffeine prior to watching this movie will come in handy. On an upnote, the cinematography was beautiful; it just should have been saved for a better movie. If you really need to be told that there's no place like home, watch "The Wizard of Oz" instead.