Walkaway Joe

This is a nice, heartfelt and engaging drama. I enjoyed it.

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.

It's an early May morning, the sun is shining and a new Jeffrey Dean Morgan movie is peeking at me, and I say, why not. First full feature directed by veteran actor Tom Wright, written by Michael Milillo, starring David Strathairn and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the strong supportives, and with the yet unknown Julian Feder in the lead role, "Walkaway Joe", quite misleadingly labeled an "action" movie on IMDb (as of May 8th), is an on-the-road drama about fathers, sons, mistakes and legacies. And a bit about pool.

In just ten minutes we learn enough about the life of young, 14-year old Dallas McCarthy (Julian Feder), how he enjoys dominating the local bar's pool tables with his dad Cal (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and is blind to the fact that he has a playmate instead of a father, unaware of his faults and mistakes. Dallas idolizes his dad and hopes to go in his footsteps to become a back door pool player. Dallas's mother (Julie Ann Emery), the only person displaying sense, tries her best but in vain, for nor the son, nor father listens to her. At the end of these ten minutes, Jeffrey Dean Morgan abandons both the father and husband duties and also the screen, to return about half an hour later. All in all, I was under the wrong impression of him having a much bigger role. Oh, well. Dallas throws a couple things in the backpack and climbs on his bicycle to go and find the old-man at a pool tournament up in Baton Rouge, in a local joint called "Fatty's". On the way, after he understands how stupid of a decision it was to cycle cross the country, he gets picked up by none other than Joe Haley, nicely performed by acting-highlight-holding David Strathairn, whom, yeah you probably guessed it, will provide a sort of a father figure. There's more than one "Walkaway Joe" around here.

The first ever produced script by Michael Milillo offers an earnest and reflective story, but also a highly formulaic one. The philosophy, lessons and thoughts on display here as sincere and right-minded as they are old, and it all weaves together in ways so familiar and predictable. Some elements, like the danger of cash hungry the debt collectors after Cal, came off more oddly amusing than effective or menacing. A lot more menace in the faces of David and Jeffrey. Practically every plot turn can be smelled before it turns the corner, even the big, obviously incoming pool game went exactly as I thought it will. Pretty cool to watch it happening though. But, if not for the subtly amazing performances by David Strathairn and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, there wouldn't be a whole lot to get attracted to. Morgan does what he's real good at, portraying a tough guy with just enough heart to love him, and Strathairn carries the story of Joe entirely on his shoulders, offering us an authentic and content little performance. During the movies first half, I didn't know what to think of Julian Feder and his naive, hotheaded character on the road to the inevitable and unsurprising redemption. It was hard to grow to like Dallas, and the performance carrying him is not one I call great. He also didn't look 14 at all, so I was pretty shocked to find out he actually was 14 at the time of filming...

The cinematography is of the standard kind, options for realism as much as possible, nothing is neither extraordinary or over-the-top. Well shot pool scenes, though it's also possible I haven't seen enough of those. As its befitting for such an Americana tale, the soundtrack goes full country, but not to any faults.

"Walkaway Joe" is, pardon me for this, your average Joe. It's a movie with its head straight and intentions clear, has a couple of good cards in its deck, the most valuable of which being David Strathairn. A contemporary drama that's worth tagging along provided any of this raised your intrigue. Perhaps I enjoyed it more than that, but I say 5/10.

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.

It was hard to pay attention to this movie. The storyline was rather dull and frankly I can't understand how there are any good reviews. Were those people watching the same movie? The nightly news, as depressing as it can be, is more entertaining.