Open Road

This movie feels (at best) like a 1980's after-school special, with lower production values and dialog that would embarrass a 1940's comic book writer. When it feels like it breaks the after-school special mode, it is merely because it slips into feeling like an old VHS tape shared by all the local xian churches.

Juliette Lewis was the selling point for me and she failed to deliver, I can blame her on some levels but the writing was just so atrocious that I am shocked she took the part. Andy Garcia must have been bored, and the lead actress basically derps from scene to scene without actually acting.

This movie had some heart but was slow moving and frustrating throughout. Anyone that shut off would not attract friends as easily as Angie did. The ending, however, was mostly unexpected and very sweet.

except Andy Garcia which is one of my favorite actors of all time,all the actors were terribly bad... the acting was that bad sometimes i thought i'm watching porn.. fake reactions fake laughs and all the fake acts was really really annoying and i just can blame the director because i saw Camilla Belle in good movies that she did well in them or Juliette Lewis has done some very good acting in some movies.. but they were awfully fake in this movie.. the only thing kept me somehow enthusiastic was the writing in some point and some good dialogs and the whole indie mellow theme of the movie which i liked the most about the movie..

...could have been really good. The acting seemed a little stiff and almost like the actors were a bit bored. I have seen all the main actors in other movies and in those, they were great. This movie brought up some good ideas but they were either never developed further (so, why raise them in the first place) or they were not resolved. And, there were a few instances where I was a bit confused as to how that situation came about, although, I figured it out fairly quickly. There are much worse movies showing on "mainstream" circuit. It was also pleasant to watch a movie with no violence, gore, swearing etc. With a bit more story development and more convincing acting, wow, what a wonderful movie this could have been. So, overall, not bad.

Okay, first of all, it's not a bad little movie, very much like Francis Coppola's 2nd movie The Rain People, acting is fine, Juliette Lewis is as good as always, at least for what she's got to do with. Script is lean and it ponders along but with nice touches. It's very 60's in some way so I guess it brings back some memories being a boomer. Definitely not for everyone, much more for those who have a whimsical bent to their personalities, just a little drive in the country, so to speak. I don't know what the negative reviews go on about, it's clearly not for them so they should go watch Juno a few more times. Performances are fine for everyone here, not an earth-shaker but a nice bit of time spent. I give it a 7 not for my best-of films, but for this particular genre of what one might call drift movies.