(2004)
2.5
Brian J. Dillard
This muddled indie wants to be a zany comedy, a coming-of-age drama, and a male-bonding fantasy at the same time. Unfortunately, despite an overqualified cast and the occasional moment of humor, Around the Bend succeeds mostly in bringing to mind other, better pictures about intergenerational angst. It's not just the road-trip trappings that feel secondhand. It's the characters, too: Josh Lucas' righteous son, Christopher Walken's absent dad, Michael Caine's wise grandpa, and especially Jonah Bobo's precocious kid. These fellows never rise above their status as archetypes no matter how hard first-time writer/director Jordan Roberts tries to give them some sort of specificity. A better director than he is a writer, Roberts makes it all go down pretty painlessly. The film is nothing if not slick and well-paced. But the revelations that pass for plot twists are either glaringly obvious from the get-go or else far more banal than their heavy-handed treatment would suggest. A few bits of folksy wisdom acted out by mannequins, Around the Bend will appeal mostly to audiences who've never endured any actual family drama.
Around the Bend on AllMovie
Around the Bend (2004)
