fredgfinklemeyer 07/27/2018 It was hard to tell where this movie was going but immersion into the storyline just sort of happened. The last minutes of it's ending defined it's decency which was present all along, just not so easy to see as the movie played out. Not much excitement, just a solid foundation and even better acting. I definitely liked it and would encourage any potential intelligent viewer to give it a try. I'm certain that you won't be sorry especially as it ends. Bon Appetit

Michael Ledo This is a bitter-sweet tale (more bitter than sweet) of a man and a boy traveling to Farmington NM. When Louis' mom (Mylinda Royer) dies, His grandparents in Farmington NM, become the guardians. He is a three days bus ride from their rural home. Stranger John Wheeler (Josh Duhamel) offers to drive the teen (Josh Wiggins). John, who is an ex-con, owes money and goes on a crime spree, mostly across Texas, dragging the boy along the way making him become a reluctant participant. John knows Louis' grandmother and has non-revealing flashbacks to their home We can only guess.The film is a low action crime drama, mostly old school stuff. Not a bad film, but hardly memorable. Guide: F-Bomb. Implied sex. No nudity.

SnoopyStyle Petty criminal John (Josh Duhamel) goes into a gas station and the clerk pulls a gun on him. One week earlier, he gives Louis a ride to his grandparents after his mother's funeral. John pulls a bunch of holdups. They pick up Mary (Lynn Collins) and Rose along the way.It's kind of a mumblecore crime spree road trip indie. It's not that interesting until the first escape where Louis has to get air. I don't get the situation where they first get together. It's unmotivated until the reveal much later. It leaves the movie feeling rambling at times. It's still questionable why Louis would leave a perfectly fine bus for a ride with a stranger. It's basic stranger danger. Duhamel is barely able to fill the screen by himself and the boy isn't that helpful. There are a few interesting moments but it is lackluster overall. It needs more to tie the reveal into something more poignant. It needs to convince me why the kid would follow a guy he never met before. It would be easier if he's simply hitchhiking and John picks him up.

Schroeder Except for the gun propping up the story, good - very good - in a European film melancholy joie de vivre, Francois Truffaut, or "Paris, Texas," kind of way. I'm reviewing it because it's quite good. If I'm still remembering it the next day, it was noteworthy. That's in no small measure a credit to excellent photography by Robert Barocci. I'll just say, the story could easily have been written without a gun - 'cuz that's my soapbox. Guns in films are so prevalent, there should be an Oscar for the guns.The character played by Josh Duhamel isn't very deep, and is kind of an unredeemable punk, but that's the way the character was supposed to be played. Josh Wiggens is excellent in his role as the orphaned boy. The pair are a credible duo. I never thought for a second that the characters were Hollywood contrivances. A lot of critics thought the characters and story were too thin to carry a full-length feature. I disagree. It's a wretched tendency that U.S. filmmakers have of tending toward clobbering audiences with action or sentiment. The characters unfold in a quiet way through their gestures and appearances, as in a Cormac McCarthy novel.A great haunting score by Daniel Hart is appropriate for the film and plays an unmistakably powerful role in accenting the drama, but I have to admit I'm a bit weary of the rock strings Godspeed You Black Emperor/Explosions in the Sky copycat genre, not because I don't like it, but because it offends my sensibilities that it's been beaten from overuse into flattened roadkill at the edge of a highway. Nevertheless, it's essential to under-girding this drama.The score's performers got dropped into the post-production credits, I hate to say, because they carried the film through the longer ponderous landscape moments - carried the film more than, say, the hair artists. I looked them up, 'cuz that's how I rolls: Shawna Hamilton (cello), Borak Loftipour (percussion), Veronica Gan (violin), Maria Demus (violin), Annika Donnen (violin). These all seem to be musicians trying to get their footing in the business - all in Texas, I think - maybe Denton.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3593046/