Review of Rudderless (2014) by Jesse O — 23 Jan 2015

I look at the film's reaction among people who watched this and I find myself asking if they even watched the same film as I did. It's not that it's bad, because it's not, as it benefits from a great performance by Billy Crudup and a really good soundtrack, but it just didn't hit me on a deeper level.

And that's why, I'm assuming, the film was so positively received among people on this site. The film has a little wrinkle to the story that's not commonly done, so that adds a new perspective on a, seemingly, taboo theme to touch on in movies and that is school shootings.

I won't spoil the "twist", even it's not really one, because that's one of the good things about this movie. But, admittedly, the film is a little more manipulative when it should've been as subtle as possible.

A character study on what a father does once something like that happens, and this is where the wrinkle to the story comes into play. But the film chooses to go the overly sentimental route. And it doesn't work for me personally.

I'd rather just see a story that reflects what actual human beings would do in this situation. Not a fictionalized, movie of the week on Lifetime thing. Don't get me wrong, this film is not that, because I think William H.

Macy is a talented director, but if it was handled poorly then it very well could've reached those undesirable levels. It was very close to that. Very close. Again, I'm not speaking about the film's quality at all, I'm just talking about it was close to being poorly handled.

And, to be honest, if it wasn't for the soundtrack and Billy Crudup, this would've gotten a much lower rating. Anton Yelchin is good and all, but I don't think he made the movie any better.

And Felicity Huffman would've definitely made it better if she got more screen time. But I get the whole story about Sam connecting to his deceased son through the songs he left behind. It's not terribly inventive, but I get it and it's a decent story.

Again, it's elevated by the songs and the lead in the film. In many ways, this is like every one of these films that you've ever seen. Another movie comes to mind with Lou Taylor Pucci and JK Simmons bonding over music.

I forget the name, and I reviewed it on here, but it reminds me a LOT of that. So I KNOW I've seen this movie before and it's almost exactly as good as that other one. This one is worth a watch if you ever see it on cable tv and have nothing better to do.

I realize that's not exactly a glowing endorsement of the movie, but I could think of worse ways to spend my time. This isn't something you need to go out of your way to see. Unless you love Billy Crudup that much, in that case, go ahead.

He's great here, it's a shame the film isn't.