Review
Lauren Denhartog
Published: Friday, October 26, 2007
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly, Mark Ruffalo, Mira Sorvino
Kinda Like: A really long lesson in why we shouldn't drive while talking on the phone.
Rating: 1 speed bump out of 5
The Deal: After a baseball game swings into overtime, lawyer Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) races to drop his son, Lucas, off at the home of his protective ex-wife, Ruth (Mira Sorvino). In his haste (and with cellphone in hand), he doesn't see 10-year-old Josh Learner standing by the side of Reservation Road and hits him before driving away. Josh is killed instantly and although his father, Ethan Learner (Joaquin Phoenix), stands nearby, he fails to get a good look at either the driver or the make of the vehicle.
It all happens so quickly that not even Lucas is a witness to the crime, believing his father's explanation that their car hit a log. Two days later, Dwight is hired by Ethan to hunt down the person responsible for his son's untimely death in what is the first of several unlikely coincidences.
While Dwight (whose face is permanently saturated in torment) is consumed by guilt, Learner's search for justice causes him to neglect the living members of his family: his wife, Grace (Jennifer Connelly) and daughter Emma (Elle Fanning). He finds solace in an online community of people who, like him, have lost loved ones to hit and run accidents. Angered by the death of her son and frustrated by the absence of her husband, Grace eventually throws Ethan out. As tensions rise, both fathers are forced to make difficult decisions that will ultimately affect the rest of their lives and the lives of their families.
Unless you're a fan of Sandra Bullock's The Net, you'll know there are few things duller than watching text being typed or the results of a Google search. Unfortunately, it's the only emotional outlet the usually brilliant Joaquin Phoenix is allowed, limiting the audience's sympathy for his character.
In Reservation Road, normally stellar actors are thrust into stilted roles with a script that allows for little interpretation. Director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda), who also wrote the screenplay, doesn't give his audience enough credit -- time and time again, his narrative chooses the most predictable route, inching its way towards the inevitable redemption.
Even with a number of Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning actors, don't expect any Oscar-worthy performances, with the exception of cute-as-a-button Elle Fanning who, like her sister Dakota, has the acting virus pulsing through her veins. The grown-ups in this movie could really learn a thing or two.
Dose.ca
Back Main
