There is some nice familial bonding buried in there, somewhere, but it takes too much effort to dig it out.
Around the Bend (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:92
Fresh:27
Rotten:65
Average Rating:4.9/10
Theatrical Release:Oct 8, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $117,093
Synopsis: "Around the Bend" is inspired by the relationship between writer-director Jordan Roberts and the absentee father he barely knew. It tells the story of four generations of men who are suddenly... "Around the Bend" is inspired by the relationship between writer-director Jordan Roberts and the absentee father he barely knew. It tells the story of four generations of men who are suddenly brought together by the chance to uncover the truth about their family's past. The journey will take them out on the road to a world full of surprises-some comic, some dramatic, and all of them personal. Jason Lair (Josh Lucas) is a simple man with a simple wish: a normal life. This isn't an easy goal for the mild-mannered bank employee: Jason is newly separated from his wife, who has left him to care for their six-year-old son Zach (Jonah Bobo) while she paints in Nepal, and his ailing grandfather Henry (Oscar® winner Michael Caine), a former archaeologist close to death, is investigating alternative rituals for his impending funeral ("I'm not going in the ground!" he protests.) So when Jason's estranged father and Henry's son Turner (Oscar® winner Christopher Walken), whose checkered past includes exploits from the musical to the criminal, pays the family an unexpected visit, nothing is 'simple' or 'normal' in Jason's life anymore. In the coming days, the somewhat reluctant Lair men will embark on a trip not only through the mythic beauty of the Desert Southwest, but across the family's own rocky emotional landscape. Forced together by a deep loss, these very different people find a great deal along the way-devastating secrets, amazing discoveries and, just as Henry wanted… each other. Warner Independent Pictures presents a Kirkham-Lewitt Production "Around the Bend," directed by Jordan Roberts from his original screenplay. Producers are Elliott Lewitt and Julie Kirkham. Executive Producer is Ronald G. Smith. Director of photography is Michael Grady. Production designer is Sarah Knowles. Editor is Francoise Bonnot, A.C.E. Costume designer is Alix Friedberg. Composer is David Baerwald. The film stars Christopher Walken, Josh Lucas and Michael Caine. Also in the film are Glenne Headly, Jonah Bobo and Kathryn Hahn. -- © Warner Independent [More]
Starring: Christopher Walken, Joshua Lucas, Michael Caine, Glenne Headly
Starring: Christopher Walken, Joshua Lucas, Michael Caine, Glenne Headly, Jonah Bobo, Norbert Weisser, David Eigenberg
Director: Jordan Roberts
Director: Jordan Roberts
Screenwriter: Jordan Roberts
Producer: Julie Kirkham, Elliot Lewitt
Composer: David Baerwald
Studio: Warner Independent
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Reviews for Around the Bend
We could use more small character dramas, but hopefully ones with real characters.
Gentlemen, it's a male chick flick -- 'The Dirty Secrets of the Ya-Ya Brotherhood.'
From eccentric old codgers to undisclosed fatal illnesses, Roberts pulls at the heartstrings in the most cliched and commercial ways.
Jordan Roberts's debut as a film director is a heavily padded, thinly conceived, well-meaning movie about four generations of men.
The story is spotty, but the acting is fine, especially when Walken is around.
The plotting is so contrived and unconvincing that Bend tastes more like emotional leftovers.
It's the showy story, script, and even staging that wear a fella out in this relentlessly precious feature debut by writer-director Jordan Roberts.
[There is] a final revelation which, however anticipated, however contrived, stings just enough to make it feel like life.
A mildly entertaining film that will slip from most minds shortly after the closing credits.
Veers deep into male-weepie territory even before the dramatic appearance of one character's baby picture provokes a climactic father-son confrontation.
The kind of thing that would be playing nonstop if there were a Lifetime Network for Men
Years of tinkering have left a residue of predictability -- a forced feeling of familial bonding burdened with an air of determined idiosyncrasy.
The kind of picture where instead of in-depth characterization, each person is given one, maybe two, idiosyncrasies.
Michael Caine and Christopher Walken, as father & son, do marvels with silences, spaces and gestures while skirting loveable old codger stereotypes.
Although the story often feels contrived, honest performances and smart direction keep the film just the right side of sentimental.
Latest News for Around the Bend
January 12, 2006:
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