On the Road

Starring: Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Tom Sturridge, Alice Braga, Elisabeth Moss, Danny Morgan, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen,
Directed by: Walter Salles
Rating: R
Genre: Adventure, Drama
2012

Times Seen:
Tim: 1


Summary: American writer Sal Paradise (Sam Riley) gets caught up in a whirlwind friendship with the energetic, out-of-control Dean Moriarty as the two embark on a series of adventures across the United States.

Review:

Tim: I'm definitely a fan of Jack Kerouac's book, "On the Road". The book is excellent, but difficult for a film, because it's basically a series of different stories, often not with a good beginning and an end. We get these flashes of adventure in Sal Paradise's life, and then he returns home and we fast-forward through the boring, normal parts of life until the next adventure. The book never had a true ending, as there's not exactly a huge amount of character development that takes place (my opinion, of course). I was very interested to see how they would turn this into a film. Luckily, for the most part, they succeeded.

I want to be clear that On the Road is a good movie. It's a film that was entertaining, true to Keroauc's famous book, and most importantly, it captures that beat generation essence that made the book so wildly popular. That all shows up in the film, which is great to see. So, the good news is that On the Road is a good movie. The bad news is that it pales in comparison to the landmark book and its incredibly influence. This is a good movie, but it's no where near the best films of 2012. It was good, but far from great. This book deserved a truly great adaptation, and I'm a little disappointed I didn't love the movie more.

The most challenging aspect of the film is how to portray Dean Moriarty, this unforgettable human being, whose personal gravity attracts people to him, even as he repels others. He's a truly fascinating character. I was shocked to see that Garrett Hedlund actually manages to pull it off. While he's not perfect, he's far better than I had any hope of him being. He does manage to capture the essence of Moriarty, and that's very fun to watch on screen. He's such an incredible credible, and Hedlund does a very good job portraying him. I was actually far less excited about Sam Riley as Sal Paradise. I know that compared to Dean, Sal just isn't as interesting. He clings to the more lively, more exciting Dean. Unfortunately, Riley is completely forgettable in the role. He never did anything memorable or especially interesting in his performance. He made a fine Sal, but he disappeared too much in the film. He took up space, but he didn't make the movie his own. The film needed a better performance out of Riley.

While this film is really about the relationship between Riley and Hedlund's characters, there's a nice supporting cast around them. Unfortunately, no one really gets enough screen time to make a big impact on the film. Kristen Stewart gets a good amount of screen time, and I suppose she's fine. She has a few very good moments here and there. Amy Adams shows up in an unglamorous role, but she has very little to do. Kirsten Dunst has a few nice moments, but I wish she had a few more meaty scenes. The film would have been better then. I loved seeing Viggo Mortensen, but again, he has too little to do and not enough time to do it. I get this to an extent, because the supporting players in the novel don't have much to do, either, but on screen, you lament these talented actors weren't given enough screen time.

The film is fairly faithful to the novel, and I really appreciated that aspect. One of the biggest challenges with the film is that it just never feels like it's going anywhere. I get that this embodies the Beat generation ethos, but it's not always a lot of fun on screen. There are certainly great moments sprinkled throughout the film, but the overall movie left something to be desired. I never felt like I understood Sal Paradise's motivation, and there wasn't a strong enough character arc in the film.

Look, I enjoyed On the Road. This is a good movie, and in some ways, it's impressive that Kerouac's unique novel was turned into an effective film at all. However, this movie needed to be better. Considering the importance of the source material, this film should have been contending for end-of-the-year awards. This movie was nominated for exactly zero Academy Awards, and will probably be forgotten much sooner than it should be. Again, this is a case of good, but not quite good enough.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Life of Pi, The Motorcycle Diaries, The Road