"Around the Bend"
Jason Lair (Josh Lucas) is a single parent raising his
7-year old son, Zach (Jonah Bobo), while caring for
his aging grandfather, Henry (Michael Caine). Henry, a
retired archaeologist, is nearing the end of his life
and is obsessed with his funeral passage, refusing to
be buried beneath the earth. When Jason's
long-estranged father, Turner (Christopher Walken),
shows up, the younger man is less than happy but Henry
is thrilled. The great grandfather, with his family
now with him, concocts an elaborately planned funeral
ritual that will span the American Southwest, then
dies, leaving the remaining generations of Lair men to
scatter his ashes to the winds in "Around the Bend."
First-time helmer/scribe Jordan Roberts structures a
heartfelt and earnest story of the four generations of
the Lair family. Jonas, gimpy-legged since a child,
faces the challenges of single fatherhood and in being
a good grandson. His wife left him to bring up Zach
while she headed off to Nepal (or, "Nipple," as Zach
calls it) to paint. Aging Henry has lived with them
for quite a while and is nearing his own end. His
archaeologist's training has caused him to eschew the
normal internment process for his fast-approaching
death and he has created a labor- and
journey-intensive funeral scheme that will take
Turner, Jason and Zach on a far-flung adventure across
the Southwest in a vintage, beat-up VW microbus –
Henry's prize possession.
Along the way, the three survivors of the Lair family
settle old grudges and develop relationships anew. Per
Henry's instructions, contained in a Faberge egg-style
collection of Kentucky Fried Chicken bags within bags,
they must journey the vast American landscape. The
elder Lair's directives require that the trio have
dinner at specified Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants
before scattering portions of Henry's ashes at various
locales along the way.
That pretty much sums up what "Around the Bend" is
about. The novice script by Roberts is well polished
and shows the writer's affection for family. That the
film stars Christopher Walken and Michael Caine, two
icons of cinema, affords the story a level of
character dimension that is more than it deserves. It
is essentially an oddball road trip geared toward
having the remaining Lairs bond and put aside their
differences. The two veteran thesps give it their
usual good shot, though Caine leaves the proceeds far
too early, leaving Walken to shoulder the chore of
carrying the film. Josh Lucas, unfortunately, is two
dimensional, at best, as the one who has always had to
carry the family burdens. He does this with a
permanent grimace that doesn't soften until near the
end. Young Joshua Bobo is a likable little kid who
gets some good lines without being overly precocious
as Zach.
Tyro director Roberts benefits greatly from his senior
actors and solid cinematography, by Michael Grady,
that takes advantage of the vast expanses of the
rugged American Southwest. The script merely puts the
actors through their contrived paces as they move from
one "burial" location to the next with ample product
placement for KFC. (I wonder if Roberts was well paid
for this copious advertising?) The proceeds look good,
but the film lacks real emotional appeal.
"Around the Bend" is the kind of film that would be
best left to home rental or subscription TV but,
truthfully, I don't think I would seek it out in those
venues. There is some nice familial bonding buried in
there, somewhere, but it takes too much effort to dig
it out. I give it a C.
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========== X-RAMR-ID: 38766 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1326353 X-RT-TitleID: 1137159 X-RT-SourceID: 386 X-RT-AuthorID: 1488 X-RT-RatingText: C
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