The Open Road

.. low key drama. Focus on the complexities of family dynamic. Love Jeff Bridges - but I thought all the acting was good ... authentic ..,moving and satisfying- I recommend it - low keyed but enters the heart. Not high end on peripheral stuff- gore, sex, or car chases- if that ticks your clock... move on

Kate Mara was the best thing about this movie though her character smoked too much. As a healthcare professional myself gotta say the hospital would not have Mary Steenburgen's character taking up a room for that many days for something she could obviously be at home for especially that she would not do the procedure. And WHY? Were they driving the roads that they were. Should have been on main highway instead of back country roads. Cows, corn fields, trains, REALLY? The dialog between Timberlake and Bridges was weak and contrived. Generally, I could take or leave Kate Mara but she played a cute part here and didn't deserve the BS of the Timberlake character. Not a rewatchable movie.

I thought Timberlake and Bridges were a good match as dysfunctional father and son. Good story line and nice set of subtle twists and turns. Timberlake was impressive as an actor, quite believable really . Kate Mara , soft spoken yet sweet girl next door kind of looks ... A believable , down home story that I thought was well executed. I especially liked that there were no Chase Scenes, Gunshots, , Violence, not much foul language. Good Music too by the way ... Lots of Bluezy ,Jazzy, Piano and Organ Background music, well suited for this flick. Id like to see more films with this kind of score.I especially liked the piano piece in the Lyle Lovette section of the movie! Im not sure if The Open Road will be a blockbuster, especially with whats out there these days , But i guarantee it will please young and Old alike in that it is a somewhat heartwarming, real laid back, enjoyable movie for all to see. I can imagine after a nice run in theaters, it will do very well on DVD and on the HBO and SHOWTIME kinds of movie networks !

I have two concerns though... first, It was a very limited opening in very few theaters in very few Cities ,and second ,not enough advertising,There wasn't even a Poster up in the 20 theater cinaplex I saw it in !

Not even the people who worked in the theater knew ANYTHING about this film ... Lets give "The Open Road" a fighting chance !

I have not actually gotten to see this movie yet, but I was a camera operator on this film. I was very sorry to see that it didn't get a wider release. I thought that with a cast including Justin Timberlake and Jeff Bridges that it would have gotten more attention. It just goes to show how messed up the movie distribution business is. When we were shooting this film I thought that it was going to be good. It was a good story and had a great cast. They all were a dream to work with. Now that I know it is out on DVD, I am going to see about getting a copy as soon as I can.

One interesting little anecdote from my point of view: We shot the bulk of the film in the vicinity of Hammond, Louisiana which is where we all stayed. But one sequence required that the whole cast and crew go to another small town that was just a little too far to drive to and from for each day's work, so we all stayed in some tiny old "tourist courts". One night several of us on the crew got together in one of the camera assistant's rooms to play poker. I wound up sitting next to writer/director Michael Meredith. I mentioned that I lived in Dallas and Michael said that he lived in Dallas up until he was five, then moved around a lot. So I asked him what his dad did, half expecting him to say either military or oil business. No, he said his dad played football. I immediately put two and two together and asked him "Your dad is Don Meredith?" he said yes. Turns out the movie we were shooting was very loosely based on Michael's own story, only the sport was changed from football to baseball.

As I said, they were all great to work with, cast crew and production. I hope that this film eventually gets the attention it deserves. Definitely worth a look.

Good cast but why does Ted Danson have any billing for his bit part. Timberlake and Bridges were great 👍