I think that director Michael McGowan really loves his main character, Ben. Ben is beautifully played by Joshua Jackson, a part which requires him to react to a lot of things. Ben seems quiet about most things, but not necessarily content. When told that he has cancer and only a short time to live, he's suddenly a man on the cusp of something. It takes only a silly message under the rim of a Tim Horton's coffee cup - "Go west" - to set him in motion. For the first time in his life, he doesn't just fall back into something familiar and comfortable - he takes action. He rejects, at least for the time being, the virtual death of invasive cancer treatment, and goes on a quest for the life he's never really experienced. And when he runs out of "west", as he's afraid he'll do, he goes even further. The road trip in this movie is the road trip, ever further west, to a destination of the spirit. To others, it seems as if he's running away. But he's not. He's running toward something. When his girlfriend and family try to reel him in to safety, to "us", he resists. In a moment I silently cheered he cries out, in frustration, to his girlfriend: "It's not about us! It's about ME!" That may sound selfish, but it's not. It simply means that there are places where other people cannot go. One thing I liked about this film is its adult take on its subject matter. Although frequently funny, it is also contemplative and suggests that, without being ostentatiously heroic, our actions can inspire others. While I was watching the film I was thinking that if it was about only this and nothing else I would have been satisfied. But a film about a man who doesn't stop while it's still safe - but who goes all the way. That appeals to me on a personal level.
