The Open Road (2009)

Just so...so bad

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I thought this was an excellent movie with a great cast and good script. I only saw the preview on another movie I rented and had not heard of it before then. After watching it I'm surprised it didn't do better.Justin Timberlake is a baseball player thats lost his passion and isn't playing so well. His mother is in the hospital needing heart surgery but refuses to sign a waiver for surgery without first having his estranged father there. This is where the fun starts. He flies to Ohio with his friend played by Kate Mara to meet up with and talk his father into coming down to Houston for the surgery. And the real laughs begin from there...Jeff Bridges did an amazing job with his character and it just sent this movie a top spot on my movie list. Very good film, very funny but still carried a heartwarming story well. A definite must-see and should really be given more attention.

Great actors (Jeff Bridges always delivers, but even Justin Timberlake and his "girlfriend" in the movie are great too). As the title suggest, you are aware that this going to be a road movie. With characters that have flaws and a story that is very close to the directors heart (see a review of crew member for more information on that), this has everything a road movie needs.While a few story tweaks may seem a bit far stretched (for something that seems to be so close to life), the whole thing still feels very real. The relationships in the movie are explored nicely without much glamour and there are a few treats along the way. There is not one real bad guy (which you might see as a bad thing or a good thing, depending on how you're going to feel about it), which made me like this even more and might have to do with the influence Jeff B. had on the script.

Carlton is a baseball player whose mother is sick and possibly dying in the hospital and she asks her son to find his estranged father and bring him there before she has the operation. The boy gets his best friend to go along for the ride. He meets his father who he hadn't seen in 5 years at a baseball convention, his father is a baseball legend. The father is a bit reluctant to go but decides he will and they head out on a long journey from Ohio to Texas. On the trip the father and son learn a lot about each other and the boy also learns how big of an idiot he was for putting baseball first in his life when writing is his true passion and his best friend Lucy is his true love. The road makes them all grow and bond and find out a lot about themselves.I thought it would be a sports movie which I hate and I also am not very fond of Timberlake, but I was surprised on both accounts. I think there might be a total of 30 seconds of baseball in this movie, other than archive and Timberlake was once again proved as a decent actor. I think he should stick to acting as he's not bad at it and he definitely sucks as a pop star.The movie was heartwarming and honest and thats rare in a lot of films. I was pleased and touched and felt something and took away a good message from it.Jeff Bridges is often boring, but did a perfect job here and Timberlake was white in this film and did a good job as did his friend Lucy played by Kate Mara. Harry Dean Staton did great as a grandfather and even like Lyle Lovett playing a bartender. Mary Steenburgen is always the same in all of her movies but I like her and she did well here. Ted Danson played a baseball coach here as well, hadn't seen him in a film for a while.If you like heartfelt dramas you should enjoy this film. 5/10 stars

About to undergo a delicate heart operation, Katherine (Steenburgen) asks her son Carlton (Timberlake) to get her estranged husband Kyle (Bridges) to come to her side in her hour of need. Long story short Carlton, Kyle and Lucy (Mara) drive to the hospital. And, here we have the theme: it's the journey that's important. This is not a comedy as was billed. This is light drama with no good lines and absolutely no comedic moments at all. Light drama is what we have here. But, I have never sat through a movie whereby there was tension from beginning to end. Yes, the situation all find themselves in does create tension. There is tension between Father and son who haven't seen each other in years; and between Carlton and Lucy and she isn't sure about Carlton anymore. And, Carlton, well, he isn't sure about anything. I fault the script not the acting. Kate Mara says more with her eyes than what the script gives her. Timberlake is new at this and on unsteady legs, but his character is supposed to act the way he does. Lyle Lovett plays a bartender and not bad, not bad at all. Ted Danson (real life husband of Steenburgen) has a cameo in the beginning. As for Jeff Bridges, he plays what he is given and does a good job of it. I still maintain he is one of our better actors. Hear that Mr. Eastwood? Morgan isn't the only one. One thing I didn't understand. If you are going to take a long trip why would you ever consider renting a gas guzzling Hummer. Yes, it was an H3, the smaller one, but still………….. Yes, I know it was only a movie. There are some dime-store philosophies given out at various moments, but nothing noteworthy to report. The journey thing trumps all and as you know journeys bond people. So there you have it: an okay Made-for-TV movie. Wait a minute. There was a light almost comedic moment. We got to see the internationally famous Peabody Ducks stroll into the Peabody Hotel in Memphis as they have been doing for years. They look all grown up now.Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No Language: Some, not much