An almost constantly surprising coming-of-age film with a dark twist that manages to take the high road with what is well-exploited material.
What Alice Found (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:11
Fresh:9
Rotten:2
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: A modest, nicely acted road movie.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong sexuality, nudity and language
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Dec 5, 2003 Limited
Synopsis: Fed up with her life in New Hampshire, 18-year-old Alice (Emily Grace) gets in her car and heads for Florida to pursue her dreams of being a marine biologist and join a friend who is in college... Fed up with her life in New Hampshire, 18-year-old Alice (Emily Grace) gets in her car and heads for Florida to pursue her dreams of being a marine biologist and join a friend who is in college there. But she gets sidetracked after stopping at a rest stop where, according to middle-aged Good Samaritans Sandra (Judith Ivey) and Bill (Bill Raymond), someone apparently punctured her tire. Bill changes the tire for her, and the couple offers to let her follow them on the road to prevent further danger--but after her engine burns out completely several miles later, she has no choice but to hitch a southbound ride with her newfound guardians. Their unusual kindness becomes increasingly suspect, though, when she discovers that Sandra is a truck stop prostitute and Bill is her pimp. Once her initial shock dissipates, though, shy Alice learns that by following Sandra's lead, she can make as much money in a few minutes as she's used to making in a week. With a grainy, digital-video look, A. Dean Bell's frank and surprising road movie is likely to win over all but the least adventurous or most jaded viewer. Ivey is superb and Grace--in a fine debut performance--expertly embodies wide-eyed naiveté. A well-chosen soundtrack enhances the visuals. [More]
Starring: Emily Grace, Judith Ivey, Bill Raymond, Michael C. Maronna
Starring: Emily Grace, Judith Ivey, Bill Raymond, Michael C. Maronna, Justin Parkinson
Director: A. Dean Bell
Director: A. Dean Bell
Screenwriter: A. Dean Bell
Producer: Richard Connors
Composer: DJ Wally
Studio: Castle Hill Productions
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Reviews for What Alice Found
A solid character piece that deftly probes the complicity of both sides in a morally dubious relationship.
Ivey is fascinating, cooing nonstop in a cozy Southern accent, friendly and accepting, but also observant and oddly unknowable. It's a performance that even gets better on second viewing.
The movie looks like TV from beginning to end, and accentuates the other major compromise of its meager budget.
A rough-hewn, modest little road movie of sorts, elevated by a trio of compelling performances and a desire to take the narrative road less traveled.
What Alice Found, a small, finely wrought drama about a naïve young woman who gets lost on the American highway, gives that wonderfully salty New York stage actress Judith Ivey one of the chewiest roles of her career.
It so deftly tweaks your presumptions at every turn that you feel, by the end, that you've traveled somewhere -- and not just along several southbound interstates.
Sandra, Bill and Alice emerge not as a newfound family exactly, nor as villains and victims, but as three ever-vulnerable human beings doing the best they can to survive.
Bell stays focused on the interstate milieu, but it's difficult to believe a frame of it.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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