I am writing this about a half-hour in-I don't see it getting better than 7. Performances are good and it is 'based on a true story'- so, some of
the weird choices are hard to dispute. The plot involves a youngish boy heading from Ottawa to a small college in Colorado, in an iffy van, and alone.
No cell phones in those days. Hence, if your vehicle breaks down in the boonies, you are royally stuck, esp. if you are on a deadline.
It is interesting to see his family back home after his departure: brother is typing on a manual typewriter, while another listens to a Walkman. Wall phones and phone booths are used to communicate. Assuming this story is based on a real incident, I gotta ask: why not take a Greyhound or a plane trip down? Buy or rent a cheap vehicle upon arrival. The lonely, isolated mid-west is no place to travel alone with a suspect vehicle. Offsetting this is the fact that the boy's dad (split from mom), green card apparently, lives/works in an adjacent state. The expedition still seems very suspect to me, but I expect a suspenseful story with a non-happy ending.
It is interesting to see his family back home after his departure: brother is typing on a manual typewriter, while another listens to a Walkman. Wall phones and phone booths are used to communicate. Assuming this story is based on a real incident, I gotta ask: why not take a Greyhound or a plane trip down? Buy or rent a cheap vehicle upon arrival. The lonely, isolated mid-west is no place to travel alone with a suspect vehicle. Offsetting this is the fact that the boy's dad (split from mom), green card apparently, lives/works in an adjacent state. The expedition still seems very suspect to me, but I expect a suspenseful story with a non-happy ending.