This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 6:22 pm and is filed under Drama, Movie Reviews, NEW ON VIDEO, R. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Director: Terry George
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly, Mira Sorvino, Elle Fanning, Eddie Alderson
Writer/director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda) takes a stab at a smaller scale drama this time out. The acting is fine here, as would be expected from such a stellar cast. The story, based on John Burnham Schwartz novel, is heavy on melodrama and the story has too many coincidences to be ignored. The story and the character’s actions become more far-fetched and unconvincing as the motion picture draws toward an unimaginative Hollywood ending.
Ethan Learner (Joaquin Phoenix) is driving home with his family when a gas station stop leads to tragedy. Learner’s 10 year old son is killed by attorney, Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo), who is driving home with his son (Eddie Alderson). Frightened at the thought of involvement in the ensuing legal mess because of an uncertain situation concerning his son, Arno flees the scene. This leaves Learner obsessed with seeing his son’s killer brought to justice and the story skips between him and Arno, who is terrified about being discovered and wracked with guilt. The two men bump into each other everywhere except the living room and the whole thing gets a little tedious.
For all its attempts at pounding home the pain of losing a child, I found Reservation Road is be lacking in impact and the writing seems lazy when it falls back on coincidence after coincidence. The Life Of David Gale was another issue-oriented drama where the unlikely story and obvious attempts at emotional manipulation hurt the overall product. if you ejoyed that feature then this one may be for you.
Reservation Road – movie quotes:
“Can you hear music if you’re in Heaven?”
Movie lines from Reservation Road
