Let me get the negatives (and they're very few) out of the way first. This really isn't so much a dark comedy as we all might have been expecting, most of that takes place very early in the movie. The trailer actually showed the funniest bits, and as a whole I didn't think the comedic elements worked particularly well. But once Penny and Dodge get out of town and embark on their trip, the tone changes subtly, and gets much better. Also, as I stated in my quick thoughts a little earlier, I thought Carell was going to put me to sleep early on, I know the character was written as someone who'd more or less been a doormat most of his life, and now with its end approaching doesn't see the point in carrying on. I get it, and I'm not naive enough to think that many of us might not respond the same way, but it's hard to root for a character like that.
As far as the reactions of the supporting players, they're largely played for comedy, but there's obviously an underlying sadness to their situations. The drug use, sex, etc. have all been done before and nothing here is really fresh or unique. The great supporting cast doesn't get to do much, and basically are only around for extended cameos. Seeing young kids (I'm talking probably under 12 years old) being encouraged to drink isn't really my cup of tea and I have a pretty twisted sense of humor. There are a few clever throwaway bits, such as a magazine cover extolling "Humanity's Finest" (I won't give away who the two photos are used as examples), and a flier advertising a hit-man who will happily help someone "commit suicide by murder". Once all of this is out of the way, the road trip begins and that's where the movie starts to find its feet.
Dodge and Penny aren't immediately attracted to each other, in fact Dodge seems to be annoyed most of the time. Penny comes off pretty flaky early on, and could have been a grating character but Keira nicely balances being kooky with having untapped depth. Dodge begins to see in her the same qualities, and slowly his character starts to come to life as well. Carell is the straight man throughout the movie, but thankfully begins to develop a spine as it goes along instead of remaining the passive personality of early on. But the show really does belong to Keira.
Two scenes standout for her, one which we read about months ago when she had the crew in tears while on the phone with her family. While she never breaks down into hysterics or tears, Penny obviously is struggling to keep her composure and trying to be as positive as she can during what she believes may be her last communication with them. Keira pulls it off beautifully, coming very near tears early in the chat, but ultimately finding happiness and joy in speaking to hear family, and especially at hearing her niece, whom we assume Penny's never actually met, in the background. The second scene is a dinner scene alone with Dodge when Penny goes into the reasons for her love of vinyl records. It's almost effortless from Keira, as she describes the albums and the old record player her parents owned while she was growing up, as if she was drawing it from her own childhood and not that of a character written for her.
There are also two songs used in the soundtrack that just knocked me out of my seat, because they've always been IMHO two of the most sweepingly romantic songs ever recorded, and Lorene couldn't have chosen better ones to underscore the scenes they're in.
I know a lot of you have read the script and know how it all plays out, but I avoided it and I know at least Gem has as well, so I'm not about to give any spoilers away. But the movie ends so beautifully that I was close to tears, and it takes quite a bit to get me to that point. I've read some reviews that have called it a cop-out, or overly sentimental, but those critics are just asses if that's all they got out of it. The last shot of the movie reminded me very much of the final shot in The Jacket, though that probably wasn't intentional. Overall, I thought Lorene did a decent job of directing but again, more so in the film's second half than the first. Not sure why there's so much criticism of that element either, I thought the movie as a whole had a fairly decent pace and flow. I rated it an 8 on its board, I hope that all of you agree with me once you've seen it!
As far as the reactions of the supporting players, they're largely played for comedy, but there's obviously an underlying sadness to their situations. The drug use, sex, etc. have all been done before and nothing here is really fresh or unique. The great supporting cast doesn't get to do much, and basically are only around for extended cameos. Seeing young kids (I'm talking probably under 12 years old) being encouraged to drink isn't really my cup of tea and I have a pretty twisted sense of humor. There are a few clever throwaway bits, such as a magazine cover extolling "Humanity's Finest" (I won't give away who the two photos are used as examples), and a flier advertising a hit-man who will happily help someone "commit suicide by murder". Once all of this is out of the way, the road trip begins and that's where the movie starts to find its feet.
Dodge and Penny aren't immediately attracted to each other, in fact Dodge seems to be annoyed most of the time. Penny comes off pretty flaky early on, and could have been a grating character but Keira nicely balances being kooky with having untapped depth. Dodge begins to see in her the same qualities, and slowly his character starts to come to life as well. Carell is the straight man throughout the movie, but thankfully begins to develop a spine as it goes along instead of remaining the passive personality of early on. But the show really does belong to Keira.
Two scenes standout for her, one which we read about months ago when she had the crew in tears while on the phone with her family. While she never breaks down into hysterics or tears, Penny obviously is struggling to keep her composure and trying to be as positive as she can during what she believes may be her last communication with them. Keira pulls it off beautifully, coming very near tears early in the chat, but ultimately finding happiness and joy in speaking to hear family, and especially at hearing her niece, whom we assume Penny's never actually met, in the background. The second scene is a dinner scene alone with Dodge when Penny goes into the reasons for her love of vinyl records. It's almost effortless from Keira, as she describes the albums and the old record player her parents owned while she was growing up, as if she was drawing it from her own childhood and not that of a character written for her.
There are also two songs used in the soundtrack that just knocked me out of my seat, because they've always been IMHO two of the most sweepingly romantic songs ever recorded, and Lorene couldn't have chosen better ones to underscore the scenes they're in.
I know a lot of you have read the script and know how it all plays out, but I avoided it and I know at least Gem has as well, so I'm not about to give any spoilers away. But the movie ends so beautifully that I was close to tears, and it takes quite a bit to get me to that point. I've read some reviews that have called it a cop-out, or overly sentimental, but those critics are just asses if that's all they got out of it. The last shot of the movie reminded me very much of the final shot in The Jacket, though that probably wasn't intentional. Overall, I thought Lorene did a decent job of directing but again, more so in the film's second half than the first. Not sure why there's so much criticism of that element either, I thought the movie as a whole had a fairly decent pace and flow. I rated it an 8 on its board, I hope that all of you agree with me once you've seen it!
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