Director Terry George developed the screenplay for Reservation Road from the book of the same name written by John Burnham Schwartz. Fresh off of the critically acclaimed Hotel Rwanda, he reloaded with a cast that included Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly, and Mira Sorvino. Faithful readers may recall that I chose this one based mostly on the criteria that I had once almost read the book. Hey, I was pinched for time.
Dwight Arno (Ruffalo) is the irresponsible two-bit attorney, ex-husband of the remarried Ruth (Sorvino), and father with occasional "overnight rights" to his son (and he should be lucky he has that!).
Ethan (Pheonix) and Grace (Connelly) Learner have a perfect family; two sickeningly sweet children (one boy, one girl), a nice house, Ethan is a professor, things are just great. Until the one fateful day when Dwight takes it all away from them. The director reaches further into the cliche bag and pulls out a number of plot-convenient coincidences. It seems that the fibers of these characters' lives are intertwined like those of a taut rope! Oh, miserable fate!
Meanwhile, Ethan goes insane with anger, because those cops just don't even care. He ignores his wife and daughter, and everything just gets miserable. Dwight becomes overwrought with guilt and wants to confess... maybe tomorrow. But throw in a couple more coincidences and everything comes to a head.
The ending is what it is; it's not the worst part of the movie. Ruffalo and Pheonix give good performances, and Sorvino and Connelly are equally decent in less demanding roles. The script could have used a lot of work. Maybe starting from a different book would have improved things, but I haven't read it, so what would I know. My imdb rating: 5/10.
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