What the hell did I just watch?
Or, to put it another way, if you're going to coach an actor who is playing Jack Kerouac, don't say, "Eh, just act like Steve Buscemi," especially when Steve Buscemi later turns up in the movie.
Anyway, it's 1947 and young Sal Paradise meets young Dean Moriarty and it'sgay love holy spiritual infatuation from the word go. This being a movie, there's also a lot more of Marylou than one might expect, and perverts might be interested to know that one need not waste very much time watching the film before getting a glimpse of Kristen Stewart topless. (You know, in case you don't have the Internet.) About four minutes in, if I remember correctly.
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You know what the greatest gay romp of American literature needs? More girls! Yeah
Many of the "high points" of On The Road are present. Meeting Bull Lee, going to jazz clubs, an awkward Virginia Christmas, Sal in bed with Marylou while Dean coaxes him on, and the like. And it's all much less than the sum of the parts. Some of the movie actually gets the book right—Kerouac/Paradise really is just a hanger-on, caught up in the wake of the others around him, a self-selected secretary of the Beat movement. And it shows; there are many reaction shots of Paradise in a corner, looking slightly agog. There are also great moments of a blazing cityscape, and a fog-draped San Francisco which mirrors Marylou's mental state as she knows she's about to be ejected as Dean takes up with his other lover.
But the rest of it, well...if you happen to catch the film in the theaters, go ahead and take a nap about forty minutes in. Head to the bathroom to make sure there are plenty of paper towels for the other patrons. The problem is that Dean just isn't that interesting on screen, and it doesn't matter how many times we're told he's awesome, we don't believe it. Not when Kristen Stewart says or, or when Kirsten Dunst says so or anyone else. The film comes alive only when Viggo Mortensen shows up as Bull Lee/William S. Burroughs. It's no surprise that he denounces Dean as irresponsible, which of course is hilarious as we meet Bull while he's on the nod, holding his infant son in his arms. But the rest of On The Road lacks such subtle ironies. Sal Paradise is never purposefully unreliable enough to keep one's eyes on the screen. Instead what we end up with are a series of somewhat compelling still photographs based on the novel On The Road, with a few odd anachronisms to keep the audience guessing. (How many TVs were available outside of New York in 1948, and how large were they?)
The film originally came out in December, in a limited release designed to make it eligible for the Academy Awards. It received zero nominations and was shelved. It's out again now as earlier this month Stewart made some TV apparences in support of the final Twilight DVD, and maybe somewhere someone who likes Twilight might wander into this film because Hey! Kristen Stewart with two guys! And they will be as disappointed as I am, and only slightly more confused.
Or, to put it another way, if you're going to coach an actor who is playing Jack Kerouac, don't say, "Eh, just act like Steve Buscemi," especially when Steve Buscemi later turns up in the movie.
Anyway, it's 1947 and young Sal Paradise meets young Dean Moriarty and it's
You know what the greatest gay romp of American literature needs? More girls! Yeah
Many of the "high points" of On The Road are present. Meeting Bull Lee, going to jazz clubs, an awkward Virginia Christmas, Sal in bed with Marylou while Dean coaxes him on, and the like. And it's all much less than the sum of the parts. Some of the movie actually gets the book right—Kerouac/Paradise really is just a hanger-on, caught up in the wake of the others around him, a self-selected secretary of the Beat movement. And it shows; there are many reaction shots of Paradise in a corner, looking slightly agog. There are also great moments of a blazing cityscape, and a fog-draped San Francisco which mirrors Marylou's mental state as she knows she's about to be ejected as Dean takes up with his other lover.
But the rest of it, well...if you happen to catch the film in the theaters, go ahead and take a nap about forty minutes in. Head to the bathroom to make sure there are plenty of paper towels for the other patrons. The problem is that Dean just isn't that interesting on screen, and it doesn't matter how many times we're told he's awesome, we don't believe it. Not when Kristen Stewart says or, or when Kirsten Dunst says so or anyone else. The film comes alive only when Viggo Mortensen shows up as Bull Lee/William S. Burroughs. It's no surprise that he denounces Dean as irresponsible, which of course is hilarious as we meet Bull while he's on the nod, holding his infant son in his arms. But the rest of On The Road lacks such subtle ironies. Sal Paradise is never purposefully unreliable enough to keep one's eyes on the screen. Instead what we end up with are a series of somewhat compelling still photographs based on the novel On The Road, with a few odd anachronisms to keep the audience guessing. (How many TVs were available outside of New York in 1948, and how large were they?)
The film originally came out in December, in a limited release designed to make it eligible for the Academy Awards. It received zero nominations and was shelved. It's out again now as earlier this month Stewart made some TV apparences in support of the final Twilight DVD, and maybe somewhere someone who likes Twilight might wander into this film because Hey! Kristen Stewart with two guys! And they will be as disappointed as I am, and only slightly more confused.