Two highway road workers spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of misadventure as the men find themselves at odds with each other and the women they left behind.
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Reviews
Simply Perfect
Overrated
Good movie but grossly overrated
Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
Alvin and Lance paint lines in the road in the wake of devastating forest fires. Walking through a bizarre landscape of blackened tree trunks, punctuated by the verdant green of the recovering land, the two men bicker and grate on each other before forging some kind of bond. Much of this dialogue-heavy film centres on the men's contrasting approach to relationships. Alvin is dedicated to his partner, sending money and seemingly on the road to give her space. Lance just wants to get laid. Both are dysfunctional in their own way, as Alvin indulges his own wishes and fails to notice his partner needs him by her side. Lance's unreformed misogyny is simply crass and remains problematic even after the credits roll. Along with an equally chauvinistic older truck driver, included ostensibly for comedic value, the female-loathing exchanges become repugnant. In the end, the boys get drunk in clichéd bottle-swigging, slow-motion style, indulge in some wanton vandalism, then decide to go raid a beauty pageant. Some bizarre magic realism is thrown in at the end. Paul Rudd shows another dimension to his acting, and Emile Hirsch does enough with a one-dimensional character, but acting nous cannot save a film that relies too heavily on the evocative setting to compensate for poorly developed characters, tiresome dialogue, and long irrelevant montage sequences. Like the lines drawn when they are drunk, this is an aimless, meandering film, that does not know what it wants to say.
I mean, I think this is an okay film. it sure has ideas about where it wants to go to in terms of its themes, but I personally didn't find the two main characters all that interesting or iluminative, not to mention not particularly likable. Rudd seems to be putting on a lot of superficiality for his role here, just trying too hard. But he's still not bad. Emile Hirsch comes off like the more realistic person here (and seeing the latest controversy regarding him, it's probably safe to say much of his character isn't a stretch for him) But yes, he does well, but there's so much one can do with this material. Yeah, not particularly a strong recommendation.
With still having good memories of co-writer/ (along with Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson) director David Gordon Green's 2008 Comedy Pineapple Express,I was thrilled to discover that a family friend had recently gotten hold of Green's collaboration with Paul Rudd,which led to me grabbing my best suit,and getting ready to meet Prince Avalanche.The plot:Asked by his girlfriend to get her brother a job,Alvin arranges for Lance to work with him during the summer time repairing traffic lines of a quiet country road.Bored to death of being stuck in the middle of nowhere,Lance begins to make plans to take the weekend off,and visit a near-by city.As Lance sets off for the big city,Alvin begins to question everything which he has left behind.View on the film:Backed by a haunting score from David Wingo and the excellent Post- Rock band Explosions In The Sky,director David Gordon Green and cinematographer Tim Orr strip the film to a docu-drama rawness,as Green and Orr avoid giving the title any elegance,by using rough tracking shots to firmly place the viewer in the wilderness.Along with the tough tracking shots,Green & Orr also use short,brittle shots to display the near- nuclear bomb effect its rural Texas location suffered in the Bastrop County Complex fire.Whilst Green does well at giving the movie a striking appearance,Green's and Gunnarsson's adaptation of Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson's film Either Way disappointingly fail to explore the depths of Alvin and Lance's friendship,which leads to the characters and the title feeling extremely stilted and dry.Going against his traditional comedic roles,Paul Rudd gives a very good performance as Alvin,with Rudd showing Alvin's straight-lace attitude to have a blistering effect on Lance,as they both begin to enjoy the silence.
Two friends (Lance & Alvin) that are used to the big city life, move to an isolated town to seclude themselves as highway road workers, thinking it will sort their lives out, but there are a few issues at hand. Alvin is still in love with Lance's sister, even sends her money she doesn't deserve. The bond between the two friends becomes tested when Alvin gets dumped by Lance's sister. I liked this movie. I don't believe i'll ever watch it again, but I enjoyed the quirky style. I'm not picky when it comes to movies. I tend to enjoy every genre, but I do get tired of the blockbusters and all the predictability that can come with movies. It becomes very refreshing when you see a unique film like this one. This movie is deliberately paced and better for it. I'm not sure how much casual film goers will get out of this, but for the movie buffs, there is plenty to enjoy. The cinematography is splendid and the character development is top notch. The two leads are more than up to this task. Paul Rudd is regarded as a comedic actor, but he is capable of being an excellent actor. I thought Paul Rudd did a great job at conveying his emotions in this film. I felt he stole the show completely with his self absorbed, albeit likable character. I like Paul Rudd a lot in general, but it is always nice to see him expand his range. Some of my favorite scenes with him come in the second half. Emile Hirsch is pretty good as well. He wasn't as dynamic as Rudd was, but he didn't have to be. His chemistry with Rudd was very good. Even though the second half gets quite dramatic, I thought they did a good job of balancing it with well timed humor. The scene where Alvin & Lance get really drunk in the second half was poetic with how beautiful it was. Final Thoughts: This won't be for everybody. I think it appeals to certain viewers to be honest with you. If you're up for a film that is thought provoking and unique, this one is for you. I dug it7.2/10