Moving McAllister

Eager to score points with his boss (Rutger Hauer), law intern Rick Robinson (Ben Gourley) - who hails from Kansas and looks for all the world like Clark Kent - agrees to drive the old man's free-spirited niece, Michelle (Mila Kunis), from Savannah to L.A., and still make it back to Miami in time to take his bar exam. But Michelle has other plans in mind, and she's not about to make it easy for the uptight, highly regimented young man - whom she believes needs to learn how to let his freak flag fly and just enjoy life - to complete his mission.

Though the opposites-attract, road-trip-from-hell premise is far from original, "Moving McAllister" has enough charm, wit and affability to keep it just this side of entertaining. The performances are winning (with Jon Heder particularly effective as a spacey, zonked-out hitchhiker the couple picks up on their way), and writer Gourley and director Andrew Black have provided a series of loopy dream sequences that help lift the movie out of its picaresque rut. Some of the detours are more enjoyable than others, and the ending lacks credibility and conviction, but the lighthearted tone makes up for most of the movie's deficiencies and shortcomings.

Rutger Hauer helps along a film that basically can be summed up in the young person finding themselves category, and rather obviously so, so it needs a lot of help.

The beginning holds a lot more promise, of a film that could turn into Michael Clayton or Stranger Than Fiction. It's too bad because I really got hooked into the beginning. Then, like the opening soundtrack, it went from great and intriguing to basically nowhere.

It's fun enough with plenty of curiosities and interesting characters acted well. I'm sure that will be enough for many people. The problem is it all feels contrived and empty which, ironically, is supposed to be the main discovery for the character's self realization. Not the film itself (it's not a self aware film), but that the character is supposed to recognize his own life is contrived and empty.

Based on the low score at Rotten Tomatoes I expected very little from this film. Maybe it's a testament to the likability of its stars Mila Kunis and Ben Gourley, but I found myself smiling more than a few times during this road trip flick. The production value and cinematography are definitely a cut above.

Sometimes I'm troubled that somewhat self-indulgent movies like this can attract such talented production crews when perhaps more important, but less trendy stories, never see the light of day. But still, I like escapist fare like this sometimes and it's hard to really put a value on art.

If you're having a slow night, this will prove an entertaining diversion.

If only the writer/producer/"star" had the slightest inkling of the limits of his acting range, and the way he is perceived on-screen (wearing glasses and a side-parting is not enough to make you look gawky and quirky if your face and teeth have been sculpted by various medical professionals to conform to American ideals of generic, characterless symmetry, erroneously perceived as beauty in this obsessively superficial society) he would have cast John Heder as the main character instead of attempting to pull a Good-Will-Hunting and create a vehicle to showcase his... his... well, himself.

The excellent supporting cast (Lord knows, they must be having problems to agree to this) is wasted in an agonising perpetual struggle to react convincingly to a main character incapable of delivering even the simplest line with appropriate intonation, and believe me, he is not short of simple lines to choose from, as the dialogue appears to have been composed by a five-year-old. Ah wait... it's the same person pretending to be a writer as pretending to be an actor. It's not often that I don't see a film through to the end, but this ejaculation was irredeemable from the outset and showed no signs of improving after the first hour. Excrement.

I was very happy about the choices for character casting. Everyone became their part, seeming very comfortable. Our two main characters had very good chemistry. The intermittent characters were given enough focus and detail so that you easily remember them.

It was amusing to follow the characters through all of their adventures. Most of the subplots were rooted in humor, but there were also some dramatic family elements that I felt were well balanced.

Some of the jokes were gross, but still funny. They easily avoided inappropriate language and situations leaving this film an easy pick for teens.

Can't wait for the DVD!