A Fork in the Road

I'm not entirely sure why this movie has a less than stellar rating. I watched it on Netflix and honestly was not expecting much, but wound up being very pleasantly surprised.

The opening of the movie has such great physical comedy, I was laughing out loud. It was a really refreshing change from all the sex and fart jokes most movies have (which can totally be funny, but let's face it, are way over done and over-relied upon at this point). I grew up watching (re-runs of) I Love Lucy, so I'm a big fan of physical comedy, which just isn't used as often anymore, particularly with female characters for some reason.

What I really loved about this film was that while it was completely laugh out loud funny, it actually made me care about the characters. Most straight-up comedies (non rom-coms) don't do that. But at the same time, it wasn't so over the top that it felt like it was changing genres or anything. I just actually cared what happened to them, while of course laughing at their ridiculous predicaments.

I've seen a good number of Jaime King's films and, in my humble opinion, this is one of her best performances, both for the comedy and the softly stated drama of her character. Usually when I've seen a lot of one actor's films, it takes me out of the world and I just think of the character as the actor. That didn't happen here.

While I generally like Josh Cooke, I will say that I'm not entirely sure he was the best choice for his role. He did a good job, but something just felt off in believing he was this criminal that could go off at any moment. And, IMHO, it is necessary to believe that in this film. The plot started to get a little stale towards the end, and I think some of it could have been left out, but it moved along quickly enough that I wasn't bored, and ultimately it didn't detract enough from the film to make an impact on my overall opinion of it.

A Fork in the Road is a great movie to watch if you just want something funny, that isn't plain stupid or a stoner/slacker movie. Worth checking out!

If you see it at NetFlix, it is worth watching. The production values are excellent. No big special effects eating away at the budget. No big names. No giant spiders. This is just a "what if?" film that stays interesting and delivers a laugh every couple of minutes.

It is not over the top comedy like Airplane! or Naked Gun. It is more of a bumbling, mistaken identity, he's dead, no he's not, type of humor that is never juvenile. Likable characters, even the ones we like to hate.

Some toilet humor, but not really the kind of toilet humor some films stoop to. This is high class toilet humor. It has no boring character introduction scenes at the beginning. Five minutes into the movie you have action and adventure and a giggle or two.

In the age of internet movie night, this is a very good choice. I want to watch these actors again.

This would be a good double bill choice with Bonnie and Clyde.

as another reviewer stated "why have i never heard of this movie?". i'll tell you why - it's just a waste of a truly fantastic story. i was so disappointed with this film i cannot express my feelings. i jumped at this flic because the other reviewers expressed such delight. so i had to see it.

the only thing that saves this movie (with me) is the many twist and turns and surprises in the plot. but the acting, script, direction, and pacing of the film are just awful. really! in one scene it's pouring rain and in the very next scene everything is dusty bone dry - no!!! that doesn't work.

and the actors are just pitiful. it's obvious the two principle actors were chosen because they are very pretty and have tight bodies for that ludicrous opening scene in the house. the script is ho-hum, and actors delivery weak and lame.

but the plot has so many twist and unexpected turns (not all of them, some are predictable - like the explosion) that you watch and become interested.

Will Carson (Josh Cooke) is a convict who escapes after a car crash. He finds April Rogers (Jaime King) stuffing Martin Cheeder (Daniel Roebuck) into her car trunk. Will assumed Martin to be her husband but he turns out to be blackmailing her and is still alive. That soon changes when Martin drowns himself accidentally. Things keep getting more complicated when April's husband Karl Rogers (Silas Weir Mitchell) goes home and mistakenly assumes that April is having an affair with Martin. Of course, Karl is actually cheating on April with Nola (Missi Pyle) who turns out to be April's sister. The complications do not stop as the cops try to figure exactly what's going on.

The movie needs to calm down the wacky comedy music. This could have been a good black comedy but the music keeps stepping on it. If I want to enjoy the wild black comedy, I don't want to be have a flashing sign pointing at it. Jaime King is a pretty good comedic actress and Josh Cooke isn't that bad. They are good together for the most part. I'm just not that impressed with Jim Kouf's writing or directing. He's trying too hard and not quite getting the comedy right. It's a wacky bumbling crime drama with a few moments of fun comedy.

It's well-written, competently acted, good story, funny, what's not to like? Incredible scenery too, I don't recall any other movie shot in a place like that.

I thought I might be in for some low budget amateurish flick as I didn't recognize any of the cast, but the story kicked off, kept my interest, made me laugh, and the cast were good. Great production values. The lead girl looks vaguely familiar and I recognized her sister who is, according to the credits, Missi Pyle, although she's not listed on IMDb as of my post.

So if you like a comedy that's a little on the black side, you can do a lot worse than this.