World Traveler

I'm not sure why this movie scores so low. Without knowing anything about it, I took a risk and rented it based on the cast of Billy Crudup and Julianne Moore. Both of them are very good, there are many supporting cast performances which are also very good. Simply put, the movie doesn't insult the intelligence of the viewer.

On the DVD commentary track the director mentions the resistance he got from many studio execs while trying to fund the movie, and he got lots of criticism that his main character (Crudup) was unlikeable. Seeing this movie while knowing that "hollywood" resisted mightily might lead to some insight as to the mindset of the power players. The main character has more of a human range of behaviors than seems comfortable to those who crave cartoon superheros.

I don't think the title is great. I don't have a better one, see if you do after you see it. "Father" should be in the title somewhere.

I really enjoyed this entire movie. It is not fast paced, but that is appropriate for the story line. People who think it plods along may need more action, but that is their issue. It is not formulaic, not a flickering screen every 5 seconds. Good acting by all actors -- especially leading man Billy Crudup as the man who thinks he can walk away, and supporting actress Julianne Moore as a delusional woman who claims to be escaping from her husband. This is a tough story about a man struggling to handle being a responsible adult, who makes some terrible choices while searching for answers. I believe the character finds out there are no easy answers and nothing will help him fully understand "why." I think this movie speaks about the many people who at times feel like lost souls, trying to figure out how they ended up where they are and wondering what would it be like to just leave it all behind. Turns out you can't really leave it all behind because your past life follows you and haunts you wherever you go. I recommend it.

I was disappointed to see the reviews that this film is getting here when I thought that it was a beautiful, subtle film that packed an emotional wallop.

"World Traveler" is a love letter to anyone who has ever drifted or run from circumstance be it the way the protagonist of Freundlich's film did by jumping in his car and taking off or be it via emotionally resigning from a situation or relationship.

If you are looking for a "set-up-pay-off" story line this is not it, nor is it a pretentious art film. It is an engrossing and emotionally honest film in the vein of a John Cheever short story and it is well worth the watch as is his Myth of Fingerprints.

Oh, and watch it alone.

You get something like "World Traveler." This movie rang so false throughout that it was sort of like sitting through a not-so-gifted recital of Rachmaninoff. There's mastery somewhere in there but you just can't see or feel it. And maybe the only mastery in World Traveler was the memories of the performances of the cast in other roles, in other, far better movies. It is unforgivable to squander such talent.

And the story held such promise! A man leaves his perfect life to freewheel it, booze it up, get laid, have no responsibilities. I like that story. That this writer/director took it no further than the surface is a mysterious shame. Why write this if there is no motivation given? Why waste our time like this?

WORLD TRAVELER (2002) **1/2 Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore, Cleavant Derricks, James LeGros, David Keith, Karen Allen, Mary McCormack, Liane Balaban, Francie Swift, Richie Dye. Filmmaker Bart Freundlich's sophomore endeavor echoes fine 70's introspective dramas the likes of `Five Easy Pieces' but wanders almost aimlessly with his protagonist Crudup (who acquits himself barely here into being anything remotely resembling a likable person) as a callow young family man who one day drives from NYC across the country to find …something, anything… to make sense of his existence encountering a few colorful characters along the way (namely the director's real-life love Moore, who adds some tasty flaky moments) yet makes the impossible somehow engrossing.