MovieChat Forums > On the Road (2012) Discussion > A great film -- underappreciated.

A great film -- underappreciated.

posted 12 years ago by sybarite_2003
9 replies | jump to latest

I saw this last year at the Munich film festival and for me it was one of the outstanding movies of the year. It made me go out and read the novel straight away -- something I'd never gotten round to doing before.

I thought the cinematography, acting, editing, direction -- everything was just right and when I watched the movie again after reading the book I still thought it was a great film.

I am really baffled why it didn't do well at all in the USA. Maybe it's too cerebral for the average dumb movie-goer who cannot appreciate nuance or cinematic art.

[–] jerrellejames-1 12 years ago

I am really baffled why it didn't do well at all in the USA. Maybe it's too cerebral for the average dumb movie-goer who cannot appreciate nuance or cinematic art.

Yes, blame the dumb American audiences for the movies' failure.

You sound like a pretentious snob. The film failed because the rambling STORY (which I noticed you forgot to mention in your post) felt pointless and tedious with none of the characters being remotely interesting or significant.

Even the professional critics thought it was mediocre, giving the film a 45% ROTTEN rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_road/

[–] papertiger 12 years ago

Rotten Tomatoes: 36% of the audiences like it. Mmmm....Sex, drugs, and nudity didn't sell well, uh?

[–] benman46 12 years ago

Having read the original novel it made me realise how bad the film was. For me it was two hours of travelling shots of picture-postcard American landscape. The film is a lavish museum piece. With period perfect cars and costumes the film is more an extended Urban Outfitters advert than an essay on, or into the exciting experiments into Beat Cinema. The leads were all anonymous as were the performances, Garret Hedlund failed utterly to convey the magnetic charisma that made Neal Cassady/Dean Moriarty the linchpin of the Beat generation. The one exception was Viggo Mortenson as William Boroughs who was pitch perfect and made the film his own. The film was a failure. As you are going to read the novel you will see what I mean.

[–] blooddrivendream 11 years ago

OP said in their post that they already read the book and re-watched the film.

[–] witchgreeneyes 11 years ago

Sorry I must be an average dumb movie-goer ( or in my exact case a DVD viewer!) because I was bored *beep* watching this and have just wasted 2 hours of my life!

Please don't bother is my advice to any potential viewer read the book instead!

"I'll get you, my pretty and your little dog too!"

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] raven1066 11 years ago

I was really surpised and impressed by the film and by how much I liked it. A fine film all the way around.

"The world is coming to an end. So where would you rather die, here or in a Jaeger?"

[–] plumlogan 11 years ago

Nuance, huh? You thought people didn't pick up on the nuance. I sort of felt like it took wild tennis racket whiffs. I'm curious what you thought was nuanced?

[–] 11 years ago

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