The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.
This month’s Genre has been chosen by Simon of Moustache Movie News and it is Road Trip Movies.
Please get me your submissions by the 25th of December by sending them to roadtripsimon@movierob.net
Try to think out of the box! Great choice Simon!
Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Road Trip Movies.…
“Every generation has their war. Men make the wars and wars make the men. It never ends! ” – Sal
Number of Times Seen – 1 (25 Dec 2017)
Brief Synopsis – Thirty years after they served together in Vietnam, three friends reunite in order to go on a very important road trip across the Eastern Seaboard.
My Take on it – I had never heard of this film before seeing it and was quite excited to see it due to its great cast and the fact that it was written (adapted) and directed by Richard Linkletter who knows how to create such wonderful dialogue for his characters.
Firstly, the choice of the time to set this film in was perfectly chosen because the beginning of the war in Iraq was a very patriotic time in the US and people were much more willing to accept that their loved ones were going off to fight in a war.
The fact that the war has now raged for more than a decade and a half has made most people feel more disappointment in retrospect but very few could knock the patriotic feelings of post-9/11 America.
This works in sharp contrast to the feelings people had when these three men were serving their country in Vietnam three decades earlier.
These three characters lives have all changed so much over those years and the fact that each has chosen vastly different paths in life makes it even more interesting to watch them interact with one another.
The three leads are all superb and their chemistry together works on so many levels.
Steve Carrell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne all take their characters to varying emotional and physical levels yet still can find a way to communicate largely due to their Army service together.
The dialogue is wonderful to absorb because we learn so much about each character and the life they chose to live as they each slowly begin to open up more and more.
They get the correct amount of humor just right to help keep things interesting along the way.
Bottom Line – Very enjoyable film because it gives us such a great perspective of three men who’s lives have taken such vastly different paths over the years. The cast is superbly chosen and Carrell, Cranston and Fishburne are all amazing in their roles. The dialogue is expertly written and we slowly get to know each of these characters, their lives and everything that they have gone through in the thirty years since they were brothers-in-arms in SouthEast Asia. The story works really well and having it take place in 2003 makes a lot of sense due to the popularity and patriotic feelings of the Iraqi War at that time. Recommended!
MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – In the novel, which is an actual sequel to The Last Detail, the renamed character played by Laurence Fishburne is a minister. And the actor who played the original character from the 1973 film The Last Detail, Otis Young, also became an ordained minister in his later years. (From IMDB)
Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Comes close. This is a fun road trip film but it’s missing something to take it over the top!
Rating – Globe Worthy
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