Review of The End of the Tour (2015) by V H — 06 Sep 2015

It's 1996. David Foster Wallace's novel, "Infinite Jest", later deemed a "masterpiece" by the New York Times, has recently been published and Wallace is in the midst of a publicity tour. If this film is to be believed, the book's release was a REALLY big deal at the time, so much so that Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) was able to convince his editor to let him join Wallace (Jason Segel) for the last few days of his book tour so he could write a piece for the magazine (which, incidentally, never materialized). [Despite having been a verifiable adult in 1996 (chronologically, at least), I somehow missed this literary-event-of-the-century and am, in fact, only hearing of this novel now.].

Wallace is a laid-back 34-year-old chain-smoker who loves candy and soda and pop-tarts and most of all, his two black labs. Lipsky is a couple of years younger, extremely uptight, and has that same nervous stammering affectation that every Jesse Eisenberg character seems to suffer from.

Wallace and Lipsky start and end their time together in Wallace's isolated downstate Illinois cottage with a trip to Minneapolis in between. The long drive to the airport and the flight itself afford the two plenty of time to feel each other out. Wallace is a reluctant public figure and always cautious of saying something that may be used against him. Lipsky, with his ever-present tape recorder, is torn between trying to dig up dirt on his subject and feeling a kinship with him. Wallace is eminently likable. Lipsky, despite being a conniving sneak, still very much wants Wallace's approval.

For some reason, Joan Cusack is assigned the task of driving the two around in Minneapolis, regularly spouting provincial hick-isms. I have no idea why this part was even written, unless the director owed Ms. Cusack a favor, in which case, he now owes her TWO favors.

Near the end of the film, as Wallace cleans snow from his aging beater, he notes how poorly it compares to the late-model rental car they've been driving around in, but that the problem is that it always starts. When Lipsky asks why that's a problem, Wallace explains that he can't possibly get rid of it as long as it keeps starting because it's his friend. And I knew right then that Wallace and I were soul mates (even though I don't actually believe in soul mates), and that when I got home, the first thing I was going to do was to order a copy "Infinite Jest" on Amazon.

Of course, this was before I found out that "Infinite Jest" is a dense sesquipedalian tome that's over 1000 pages long. Probably has no pictures either. And I bet it has a really small font.

"The End of the Tour" is kind of like "My Dinner with Andre". Except that dinner consists of Pepsi and candy bars bought in convenience stores and eaten in a car instead of at a table and for some reason Joan Cusack is there. OK, essentially the only similarity is that much of the movie is just two smart guys talking, not about normal guy stuff like Jay Cutler's toughness (or lack thereof), but about deep introspective stuff that sounds unlike any conversation most of us ever have in real life, but allows us to pretend that we're smart too because we can kind of follow along.

[I just Googled to see if anyone else had the same brilliant observation I did that "The End of the Tour" is kind of like "My Dinner with Andre", and sad to say, I'm not the first. Thank you Google, for once again confirming that I've never had an original thought in my life.].