Walkaway Joe

Is this kid the son of some producer or something? This film could have been something halfway decent. It isn't. I knew in the first 15 minutes this kid wasn't right for this role. He's young, and might still have a future in front of him but this was too meaty a role to rest on the shoulders of someone so inexperienced and so obviously not up to the task. He looks and sounds like someone from the Hudson Valley but I'm supposed to buy that this kid is from Louisiana? It's a good enough story, standard run of the mill father/son/mentor picture and I really like these kinds of films, but it's bogged down by a poor lead performance. I don't regret watching it as I'm a huge Morgan/Strathairn fan. Emery is a good actress as well. It's not a bad story, just something that's been done a million times before, and better. Could have benefitted from a better lead.

Somebody mentioned that they didn't understand why all the good reviews and that they gave up halfway through. Well chances are the good reviews came from people who stuck it out till the end. Good pool movie. I always like it when you can tell the actors are really shooting pool and they don't cut away from the actor to the shot, making you think that somebody other than the actor actually made the shot. You can tell that the actors are either decent pool players or they took the time to practice for the film.

I have enormous respect for both Jeffrey Dean Morgan and David Strathairn and this is a movie about the relationship between boys and their fathers. How could this go wrong in any way? Well, unexplainably, it did.

While the story in the film is charming, it is also completely predictable and barren of any subtlety. A big minus was the lead actor, Julian Feder, who had the emotional range of a two by four, while at the same time having no other positive attributes. I mean, his character was not a meathead muscleman who didn't need to show emotion, only punch people, he was a goofy fourteen year old who was trying to get his asshold father to come back to his family. The actor should have gone from crying his eyes out to smashing things and through cold hearted mean spirited and thoughtless words. He only managed the latter.

And this film had so much potential. Strathairn also went with a subdued, more cerebral take, while Jeff Morgan was awesome in how well he portrayed the worthless pool hustler. I mean, even his posture was completely different from his usual roles. Unfortunately he had only a few scenes and that was all. His mother should have had a bigger role, too. I actually like Julie Ann Emery a lot, too, but she had like four scenes in the whole thing. I mean, this could have been another Over the Top. I know that wasn't the greatest movie of all times, but it stayed with me. Unfortunately Walkaway Joe rises very little over day TV film quality and I will not remember it. Too bad.

Had some potential but I feel like they didn't know which cliche path they wanted this film to take.. also with as much focus and screen time the "14 year-old boy" receives they could've found a muchore talented actor. I'm sorry the kid was terrible.

With the two lead actors and the premise of this film, it could have been so much more. Unfortunately the film mirrors the acting of the central character portrayed by Julian Feder. Here is a meaty role with a meaningful journey, but the film falls flat, as does Feder's performance, or should we say lack thereof. Young man's search for father, part road trip, part billiards competition. We can't pull for the son because he takes us no where, emotionally. We really can't cheer for him in the pool competition either, because the characterization is so distant and vapid. The elements are all present, but neither the performance by the young protagonist (who does NOT look 14 y.o.) or the direction, allow us to get there. Too bad, but not memorable in the least.