On the Road

Walter Salles

2012

5.00

Synopsis

Dean and Sal are the portrait of the Beat Generation. Their search for "It" results in a fast paced, energetic roller coaster ride with highs and lows throughout the U.S.

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Cast

Garrett HedlundDean Moriarty / Neal Cassady
Sam RileySal Paradise / Jack Kerouac
Kristen StewartMarylou / LuAnne Henderson
Amy AdamsJane / Joan Vollmer
Tom SturridgeCarlo Marx / Allen Ginsberg
Kirsten DunstCamille / Carolyn Cassady
Viggo MortensenOld Bull Lee / William S. Burroughs
Danny MorganEd Dunkle / Al Hinkle
Alice BragaTerry / Bea Franco
Elisabeth MossGalatea Dunkel / Helen Hinkle

Recommendations

75
The Playlist
If there's one thing that wounds On the Road, it's that the film is full of things -- having sex, doing drugs, being free -- that are far more enjoyably experienced by one's self as opposed to watching other people enjoy them on screen.
70
The Hollywood Reporter
Stewart, selected for Marylou five years ago on the basis of her striking debut in "Into the Wild," is perfect in the role, takes off her clothes more than once and nearly always seems to be breaking a sweat, which kicks the sexiness quotient up high.
60
Empire
A decent, well-cast and mounted adaptation that hits all the right notes but plays them in a respectful, muted monotone.
60
Total Film
It may lose its way on occasions, but thanks to a committed cast and a script that captures the Kerouac vibe, Salles' adaptation never ends up on the road to nowhere.
60
Variety
Evocatively lensed, skillfully made and duly attentive to the mercurial qualities of its daunting source material, Walter Salles' picture pulses with youthful energy but feels overly calculated in its bid for spontaneity, attesting to the difficulty and perhaps futility of trying to reproduce Kerouac's literary lightning onscreen.
50
Boxoffice Magazine
On the Road is rich with evocative period atmosphere and anchored by a trio of compellingly lived-in performances from Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, and Kristen Stewart. Nevertheless, it's another staid adaptation that misses the forest for the trees and confuses people into thinking that some novels truly are "unfilmmable."
50
Slant Magazine
The lack of a strong expository voice further simplifies the wealth of explicit sex Walter Salles dramatizes, much of it drawn from juicy swathes of Jack Kerouac's only recently published original scroll.
50
Rolling Stone
A dash of Tarantino might have juiced up Walter Salles' wrongheadedly well-mannered take on Jack Kerouac's 1957 Beat Generation landmark. Kerouac's semi-autobiographical novel comes to the screen looking good but feeling shallow.

On the Road

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