Review of Running on Empty (2010) by Ms Amanda J — 20 Jan 2011

Director Sidney Lumet offers us a story of one family on the run from justice after a "peace bombing" back in the 70's to protest the war. The parents in this family (Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti) continually drag their two sons along jumping from life to life to avoid capture. They assume new names and backgrounds with every move to stay undercover. It is ridiculous to think that a young teenager (played River Phoenix) could keep up with this constant identity crisis or that his even younger brother could either. The disregard for their children and any possible future they may have is buried beneath some strange code that the criminals cling to. I can appreciate the idea of Running on Empty and it is a workable premise. I do not, however, feel it was achieved here. A man was almost killed in their bombing and now he is left paralyzed. It is hard to see these people teach their sons any kind of right or wrong when their whole life is a hypocritical mess.

I do see some positives in this mostly negative as Phoenix and Hirsch give some of their best performances and that almost carries the entire project through the rough terrain. The screenplay, direction, and performances have their high points yet it just can't seem to fit into any rhythm. Perhaps the best example of frustration is that this story contains great pros but also heavy cons that outweigh them. Consider this my best example: the bittersweet ending.(D).