On the Road Reviews

Sex, drogue et malgré tout, on se fait chier !

La vie d'avant internet. Passionnant.

The book changed your life. The film will not.

It's either they are on the road or on the bed! and of course smoking weed!

Uninspired and barely coherent, On the Road is a pretty big disappointment considering its talented group of actors.

I recently reread this book and got more out of it this time and i think what i saw is what the director saw too. "on the road" is really a sad book about loss and the breakdown of the family unit. the problem is it's a difficult book to translate into the medium of film; but this is as good an effort as i can imagine. it's not great but i didn't hate it, and it was interesting to see someone really make an effort to try to make this into a film.

One of those rare films where you just wonder what the critics were thinking when they slated this. On the Road is inspiring, directed perfectly, is littered with hypnotic-like scenes and works thanks to its consistent levels of drama as well as painting an accurate and realist portrait of the young man in search for something that might be too heavy to exist. A very good road movie with some very interesting characters who are part of a film that could have gone either way but works, largely thanks to Walter Salles' direction. This could arguably be the best of Salles' work.

Certainly not as great as the novel. But not as bad as some people think it is. There is quite a bit to admire about the long awaited adaptation of On the Road. Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund are fantastic in the roles of Sal and Dean respectively. Wonderful cinematography by Eric Gautier. Haunting jazz score by Gustavo Santaolalla. My biggest fault with the film is that it drags a bit in the final 30 minutes. Kudos though to Walter Salles for finally bringing the novel to life on the big screen.

Journey's of self discovery are one thing, and journey's of self indulgence are quite another. The characters that embark on this trip & "on the road" find both at times tough but it's the togetherness and shared life experience that triumphs over the bumps in the road that are ever present. It's only with the part of self indulgence that the film failed to connect with me and my sense of story. Taken from Kerouac's novel "On The Road" the story follows and introduces us to a myriad of characters, of which only some get the characterization they deserve and we are left wanting more in some cases. While it's easy to see the appeal in a story such as this, and I'm sure younger viewers will enjoy the "freedom" the characters enjoy, not all of them are actually free, and some fail to achieve true freedom even though it might look like they do. The direction is good but doesn't throw caution to the wind, while the look of the film is brilliant and the soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla is the star of the film, and better complements the erratic nature of the characters than the direction. Sam Riley is really good as Sal Paradise, and he should look forward to many great roles in the future. Kristen Stewart, while not bad, doesn't feature in the film prominently, and when she does, her character doesn't afford her the luxury of showing great range and ability, but some scenes are really top stuff. All in all, I can't say that I didn't enjoy the film, but it's most definitely too long, and loses steam near the end, but it's a worthwhile endeavor and one that I can recommend, just bring food and drinks.

A tribute to the all time classic novel of Jack Kerouac, On the Road is stylish, but ultimately slow and messy adaptation of Kerouac's autobiographic masterpiece. Beautifully created and with splendid performances, this movie is one of those examples when its director is incapable of matching the initial cult level of the story's source.

On the Road is not only a tribute to Jack Kerouac, but to the whole group of post-World War II writers, known as Beat Generation. The movie describes everything with which this group was famous for: wild bohemian lifestyle, drugs abuse, alternative sexuality, religion à la carte, first signs of post-modernism. It tries to follow the story of the novel and to lead the audience through a trip a life-changing trip around the US in which the prototypes of Jack Kerouac ( Sam Riley as Sal Paradise) and Neal Cassady (Garrett Hedlund as Dean Moriarty) grab with full hands from their lives, from their passionate friendship, just to find in the end a world of broken dreams, loneliness and melancholy.

As an idea, Walter Salles' movie tries to be as close to Kerouac's novel as possible. Yet, the movie suffers from two main big problems. Firstly it lacks the restrained energy, the alternative wildness of the novel. The first half of the movie is slow and too messy with nothing to hold the grip on the audience except for the splendid performances. Secondly, and not of lesser importance, Salles' delivery is simply unable to inspire, to grab the complete attention, to consume its audience the way the books does with its readers. Despite the beautiful cinematography and the prolonged scenes of bohemian lifestyle the movie would probably bore those unfamiliar with Kerouac's novel. Only the duo Riley & Hedlund, supported by Kirsten Dunst, Kristen Stewart (who is actually not that bad !), could not keep the attention of the "ordinary decent" moviegoer Speaking of them, Garrett Hedlund is truly the star of this movie as the self-destructive and egoistic Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady).

On the Road is definitely a strange, experimental movie, polarizing movie. Far away from the Hollywood mainstream deliveries, it is a demanding piece of art which does not fully rewards its audience. It lacks the ability to inspire, to provoke, to consume its viewers, simply because it cannot match the cult level of the original novel

genel olarak be?endim. kurgusunun sürekli kestirilemezcesine ve emprovize bir biçimde akt??? bir roman?, ona çok ba?l? kalarak sinema diline aktarmak zaten çok mümkün bir ?ey de?il. belli ki yönetmen ve ekibi romana sad?k kalma s?nav?n? zor ?artlar alt?nda ba?ar?yla vermi?ler. filmde en çok be?endi?im nokta; emprovizasyon ve jazz'?n beat ku?a?? üzerinde ilham?n? estetik bir ?ekilde aksettirebilmesi oldu. özellikle allen ginsberg'in (carlo) ?iirlerinde bu etki daha hissedilirdi.

lakin rahats?z edici unsurlar da vard? benim için;

karakterler beyaz perdeye çok mainstream tipler olarak yans?m??. diyaloglar ve karakterlerin ileti?im biçimleri oldukça farkl? kurgulanm??t? romanda. baz? yerlerde film holywood ?ablonlar?na yenik dü?mü?. ayr?ca karakterler 1950'lerde olmaktan uzaklar sanki. kostümleri, saçlar? ba?lar? ve jargonlar? 2000'ler etkisi uyand?r?yor. karakterlerin fazla yak???kl? ve güzel olmalar? da gerçekçili?i zay?flat?yor.

filmin sonunda sal paradise'? eski ya?am?n? geride b?rakm?? ve hayat?n? "düzene" sokmu? bir tip gibi göstermeleri, dean'in sokaklarda sefil sefil gezmeye devam etmesi; "gençlikte oluyor böyle serserilikler ileride adam olurlar nas?l olsa" mesaj? veriyor ki day?m da böyle dü?ünüyor. bu mesaj da yolda'n?n anlatmak istedi?inden çok uzakta bir yerlerde.

loved the performances, defently Kristen Stewart could proove she could do alot more. Stewart defently gives the best performance i've seen from her.

Wish I'd never seen it...

Jogo a culpa mais na atuação que no direção, mas ainda assim...

I haven't read the novel, but am not enticed to do so after seeing this movie. Budding writer hits the road seeking inspiration. But the movie is a string of random events that make it disengaging. Star cast in tiny roles seem a waste of their talents.

Absolutely horrible. Kristen Stewart's character was simply a hoe. The main character was a good looking man, who fucked another guy in the ass and become a prostitute even for men. It was sex,group sex,sex sex sex. No plot or story life. Just gross. Way to ruin your image.

I thought Garrett Hedlund was great in this and the movie looks great. I just found it to be empty with no clear point.

I've no idea what this was about.

It may be 20 or even 25 years since I've read Kerouac's On The Road (my yellowed paperback contains a signature that seems miles away from my current one). It meant something to me back then and Walter Salles' adaptation gets an extra half-star just for letting me think about those days of unbridled and reasonably unfettered youth. This is the story of Sal Paradise's contact with the nearly mythical (truly unfettered) Dean Moriarty, during the late 1940s and early 1950s when giving up everything (and/or trying to be a writer) to hit the road as a free spirit wasn't necessarily the done thing. Nor is it now and the basic predilection for security and stability in all of us isn't hidden in the novel or the movie, but there is some sadness involved in both choices. Nevertheless, the movie is too literal (only capturing some of Kerouac's feeling), too long, and, in the end, too unlikely to inspire anyone -- so it has lost the magic of the novel. But it still gets that extra half star for bringing me back to that place.

a very interesting film about the Sal Paradise. A more so interesting New York Writer who learns of the outside world!