Release Date: October 8, 2004
Starring: Michael Caine, Christopher Walken, Josh Lucas, Jonah Bobo, Glenne Headly
Directed by: Jordan Roberts
Written by: Jordan Roberts
Distributed by: Warner Independent Pictures
MPAA Rating: R (language)
Around the Bend is a lightweight father-son story (times three) that attempts to generate the genre’s usual emotional heft and substance simply by lining up all of the necessary elements. But this works about as well as trying to reproduce Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony by giving a random group of 100 people some instruments and telling them to play.
It is written and directed by Jordan Roberts, who is, as you’d expect, a first-time filmmaker; Around the Bend has the rough-edged shallowness of a movie made by someone who is trying to emulate other, better movies.
The movie stars Michael Caine, Christopher Walken, Josh Locas, and Jonah Bobo as four generations of men in the same family: Caine is Henry, the great-grandfather; Walken is Turner, the grandfather; Lucas is Jason, the father; and the seven-year-old Bobo is Zach, the son. When Turner abandoned Jason as a young boy, Henry took over the role and has been the father figure in his grandson’s life ever since. Now Jason, who is separated from his wife, takes care of the ailing Henry with the help of a live-in nurse named Katrina (Glenne Headly).
Events in the plot are set in motion when Turner mysteriously shows up one day, determined to patch up differences with his father (who is happy to see him) and his son (who is not). But then Henry dies, leaving a cryptic will that requires Turner, Jason, and Zach to take a road trip from their Los Angeles home to an unknown destination in order to receive their inheritance. The only sort of order to the journey is that it involves stopping at several KFC restaurants.
Drama plays out on the road, as Turner and Jason spar over their past, to the uncomprehending amusement of the semi-adorable Zach (played by Bobo, who surely learned to act at the Jonathan Lipnicki School of Ubiquitous Scene-Stealing). Jason has never quite forgiven Turner for walking out on him and his mother, but Turner also hints that Jason doesn’t know the whole story about their relationship.
The script, which is not very well written, parallels the road trip to the emotional/psychological one that Turner and Jason must take to reconcile their differences. Given the movie’s soupy tone and generic, grudgingly feel-good value system (the aesthetic undercurrent seems to be: “Alright, I’ll be happy, but I don’t have to like it”), you can be fairly certain from the first act onward that this will happen.
None of the actors have anything interesting to say, which takes the wind out of the movie’s sails and makes the actors -- especially Lucas -- look unfortunately bland. Walken, who is known for putting a healthy dollop of wild-eyed charisma into every one of his parts, attempts to do so here, but the story cramps his style. The movie’s other ace, Caine, is taken out of the equation too early to make a difference.
The movie’s big secret -- the one that Turner is keeping from Jason about his childhood, and which is revealed outside of their old house in the movie’s final act, is substantially underwhelming. It’s even more disappointing considering that the plot has to navigate its way through several KFC restaurants to get there; I’m willing to put up with the necessary evil of product placement to a certain extent, but I also require a decent narrative. This movie feels like a 90-minute KFC commercial.
Overall, there are some enjoyable moments to be had because the cast involved ensures that there will be at least a minimum level of competency (Henry, Turner, and Zach all share an interesting theory on when petty theft is acceptable, and Turner performs one such heist that the ASPCA will surely look highly upon). But though Around the Bend is certainly not bad, in the broad scheme of father-son pictures there are much better, more substantive, and more heartfelt options available.
-- Craig Roush (craigroush@hotmail.com)