Release Date: August 23, 2013 (Limited)
Now playing on VOD Platforms
Directors: Kevin Goetz, Michael Goetz
MPAA Rating: R
Film Pulse Score: 6/10
Directed by the Goetz brothers and written by Kyle Killen, Scenic Route is a simultaneously interesting and frustrating film starring Josh Duhamel and Dan Fogler. There are moments to appreciate and then there are stretches that made me want to fast forward. However, there is enough substance to recommend the film and Duhamel and Fogler give solid performances in a difficult setting.
Mitchell (Duhamel) and Carter (Fogler) have been friends for many years. We find them on a road trip through the desert. Mitchell wakes up to find that Carter has taken them well off the beaten path; they are literally in the middle of nowhere. Carter is upset that they two are not having great conversation as they used to on their previous road trips, so he disables the truck so that they have nothing to do but talk while waiting for someone to drive by. They do begin conversing, and the conversation takes many turns. It becomes most interesting when they spend a good fifteen minutes or more arguing about their lives. Carter berates Mitchell for “selling out” by marrying a rebound girlfriend and giving up on his musical aspirations to work a boring job in finance. Mitchell turns the tables, and criticizes Carter’s pathetic lifestyle – Carter lives in his car, is unemployed, and is an aspiring but incredibly unsuccessful writer. Killen’s dialogue is excellent in places and Duhamel and Fogler deliver the lines with gusto.
When a man stops to help them, Carter admits that he has disabled the truck, much to Mitchell’s dismay. He puts the wire back in and the truck starts and the man drives on. However, the truck then breaks down and the two are left to fend for themselves in the desert without food or water just hoping that someone else will drive by. The film turns into a story of survival and the two friends constantly switch from helping one another to beating the crap out of each other. It is in these extended scenes when the conversation has stopped and the two are trying to stay cool during the day and warm during the night that the film becomes overly long and uninteresting.
Eventually, the two begin walking toward what they hope is some civilization. As they reach a certain spot, Mitchell’s cell rings as they have finally reached an area of service. They two are saved, and we see Mitchell back with his wife and child and Carter is invited to move into their home. Mitchell and his family decide to take a trip while Carter stays at the house and one night, Mitchell awakes and calls Carter. He is concerned that they are still in the desert and that his happy return to his family (which he had qualms about in the desert) and Carter’s finishing what Mitchell and his wife consider a great novel is fantasy; they are still in the desert.
The film ends, thusly, on a “what if” moment as the Goetz brothers and Killen leave the audience guessing as to whether or not Mitchell and Carter made it out of the desert. I am generally a fan of films that end on a surprising or mysterious note. However, this particular ending comes quite quickly and feels somewhat “tagged on” as if the filmmakers did not know how to end the movie. Still, the film is an interesting character study of two lifelong friends and their physical and emotional struggle in a literal wasteland. Duhamel and Fogler are excellent and worth the price of admission, as we say. It is not a great movie, but it is not a bad one either and thus recommendable to those who want to see something a little different and who enjoy sparse films.
