X
- 2013
- R
- Vertical Entertainment
- 1 h 22 m
- 2013
- R
- Vertical Entertainment
- 1 h 22 m
Summary The relationship between two life-long friends is tested when they are stranded in the desert.
Directed By: Kevin Goetz, Michael Goetz
Written By: Kyle Killen
- 2013
- R
- Vertical Entertainment
- 1 h 22 m
- 2013
- R
- Vertical Entertainment
- 1 h 22 m
Scenic Route
34
6.9
Where to Watch
Summary The relationship between two life-long friends is tested when they are stranded in the desert.
Directed By: Kevin Goetz, Michael Goetz
Written By: Kyle Killen
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
34
10% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
50% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
40% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
34
10% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
50% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
40% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
It's no "Taxi Driver" or even "Open Water," but Route has enough attractions to warrant the trip.
The movie becomes a survival tale and is more successful in its grueling, slightly crazed second half. The Goetzes do a better job capturing the terrain's physical extremes and the challenge of endurance than they do depicting a relationship.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
6.9
65% Positive
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
26% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
9% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
6.9
65% Positive
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
26% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
9% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
The critics score of this movie makes me wonder if they even actually watched it. It was easily one of the best of the year. The slow build of tension and the amazing ending - I was completely engaged. I have watched it several times and have gained a new appreciation each time. This is a character driven drama/thriller, not a shoot-em up with a giant budget and exploding robots. Big ideas don't always need big budgets.
Report
I thought it was a really good ride, maybe some will think it slow but if your dialed In to what these guys are saying you'll see a real life story. Great job all around, writers, actors, and all who got this to the finished product.
Report
For Scenic Route, it doesn’t seem to be the journey as much as the destination: seeing two sorta-friends wailing on each other feels like the shortcut a better movie never made.
The first half of Scenic Route is basically a filmed play, and not an insightful one. The more surreal second half takes on a moodier edge, but the switcheroo ending is cutesy to the point of annoying. Fogler impresses with some brooding edge, but neither he nor the location photography is enough to recommend you join him on this doomed trip.
While the narrative spins in place, Kyle Killen's script throws out one uninspired gambit after another to extend the film to feature length, eventually climaxing with dual endings, both contrived.
An awkward, long-winded mash-up of therapy session, horror movie and survival tale with pretensions of psychological depth.
Digital projection has made it easier than ever to get no-budget movies onto theater screens. That might sound wonderfully egalitarian, but it mostly just leads to more shoulda-gone-straight-to-DVD clunkers like Scenic Route.
I agree with the User reviewer "idbell" who wonders whether the Critics saw the same movie. I rarely rank a movie a 9 (and almost never a 10, for that is reserved for a one-in-a million work of art). To me, a 7 or an 8 can denote an excellent film that I find quite entertaining. I reserve 9 stars for rare exceptional films -- like "Scenic Route". This film is phenomenal. The writing is intense, amazingly copious -- a nearly steady stream of perfectly realistic exchanges between two old friends as they become increasingly tested almost beyond their endurance out in the California wasteland of desert where their truck has become stranded. Of course, no matter how good a script is, it won't work without good acting and directing -- which this movie obviously has in spades: Josh Duhamel and Dan Fogler are superb, and there is never even a hint of a false note in their performances. This is simply the kind of movie nobody is going to dislike (at least that's what I thought, before I saw the Critics on the left panel here...). Not only is it engrossing and often thrilling, it has moments that touch the heart with a common human pain. And on that note, it achieves what few American films do: it reaches the height of true, and classical Tragedy.
Report
With all the independent films today, Scenic Route packs a refreshing dose of originality and superb acting. Making good use of the surroundings and situations, the film really pushes the bar of human thought and really examines how much one can take.
Report
The main actors do a very respectable job of portraying the tension between them. And I love the minimalism of the film, which is mostly set on a stretch of desert road over the course of a few days. The payoff was not what I expected, and not as good as it could have been. Overall, this was an interesting look at what people are really like when you remove all the niceties.
Report
It was a slow-paced movie but it was enjoyable if you know what's really going on, but over all the movie was still fun. Great acting and Good but slow story
Report
"Scenic Route" 10 Scale Rating: 5.5 (Decent) ...
The Good: Great performances from Josh Duhamel and Dan Fogler, which had to happen for this to work at all since the film is about two guys stranded in the desert. The idea isn't a bad one and, after a slow start, the film gets very interesting about halfway through.
The Bad: Sadly, the ending ruins it. It made no sense and tried way too hard to shock the audience with an odd "twist" ending. It was ham-fisted and ruined what would have otherwise been a good movie.
Report
