On the Road

The actors did a fine job. I haven't read the book and I've heard there's a lot missing from the movie, but everyone's performance was brilliant. Garret Hedlund was spectacular in this. I had only seen him in Pan which he played Hook. I wasn't a fan of his performance there. But this really showed his talent. And wow Kristen Stewart, what a performance. I never liked Twilight and thought she was awful in it, but she shined in this movie. Sam Riley is a fantastic actor so I wasn't surprised at how good he was here. And Tom Sturridge did an amazing job in the Sandman show, and I hadn't really saw him in anything else, but he is the kind of actor that immerses himself in a role. He did a fantastic job.The movie shows a different side to the 40s and 50s then most movies I've watched in that decade. But you feel yourself going along with the characters on this journey that always brings them back to each other. I liked that. It showed a sense of loyalty that some of the characters I don't think deserved, since they are often lost in their daydreams. Overall perfect cast. Great acting.

I first read Kerouac's most famous work nearly 40 years ago when I was in college and working my way through a lot of the classic counterculture books. I became a big fan and collected everything I could find on Jack and the other Beat writers. I never gave much thought about them becoming a film, though I knew that Kerouac had wanted a movie made of Road. There was a poorly received version of The Subterraneans that was filled with beatnik cliches and a very whitewashed plot (literally - the African American characters were played by white people). On The Road sat in Hollywood preproduction for over fifty years and most fans assumed it would never be made. Beat literature was considered to be too nonlinear to make a coherent story. Then came a film of The Naked Lunch and it was actually good. Even Howl has recently appeared on screen. So I got pretty excited when I heard that Road was finally being made. But I had to put my hopes in check when I read that Kristen Stewart was going to play Marylou. I wondered just who the studios were aiming the film at - though I had to admit that Stewart had done a pretty good job of playing Joan Jett in The Runaways. That Walter Salles was producing also seemed positive - The Motorcycle Diaries was well done. So I kept my expectations low and waited for the film to play at the local art cinema. There were delays in the release that didn't bode well, but it eventually appeared. And I came away happy. Of course it isn't perfect - there was never a possibility that it would be - but it is far better than a lot of the reviews here are making it sound. So let me shoot down some of the criticisms: If you are a sixteen year old Twilight fan, you won't get this movie, so I'll ignore any comments from that direction. If you haven't read the book you will have a bit harder time understanding what is going on - of course a movie must stand on it's own, but the whole atmosphere of the times is easier to appreciate if you have some background information. If you are a social conservative, you won't like the lifestyles depicted. If you saw this on streaming video it was - judging from other comments - edited for content. The Blu-ray is the same I saw in the theaters. So now I'll direct my comments toward those who love the book, but were disappointed in the film. Yes a lot of things were left out - though some of them appear in the deleted scenes. The released version was shortened from the one that was shown at Cannes, which makes sense - scenes such as the Ghost of the Susquehanna are incomprehensible to someone that hasn't read the book, but they're on the disc as extras. I think I might have liked the Cannes cut even better. Then there is the complaint that there is too much sex,drugs and decadence. Well, right before I saw the film, I read the recently released Original Scroll version of the book and all of those things are in it - turns out Kerouac had to tone it down in order to get it published. That doesn't mean that I don't think the movie couldn't have been improved. Dean (Neal Cassady) isn't quite manic enough and there isn't enough Bebop jazz (though the Mexican brothel Mambo scene was done well). Jazz and living on the edge were major components of Beat life. Perhaps with time this movie will be better appreciated. And hopefully it will inspire more Kerouac flicks - maybe they can get The Subterraneans done right.

Let's just get this out of the way - the movie is not the book. Now that we've established that truism for most book-to-movie adaptations, let's move on.Just to give a little background on my mindset before I viewed this movie, I am not a Kerouac fan. Reading Kerouac as a black woman, is like repeatedly sticking a fork in my eye in some parts. It's painful to read the misogyny and the romanticism of picking cotton (When I read he thought he could make it his "life's work," I almost threw the book out of the window). But, I continued and actually understood his mindset by the end of the book. However, I really never wanted to be in his head again. It was a scary place.So, as you could probably tell, I had my reservations about the movie. However, the cast won me over. When you have Amy Adams, Viggo Mortensen, Steve Buscemi, Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley, and Kirsten Dunst all in one movie, you can practically guarantee some fine performances and I wasn't disappointed at all. In fact, I'm a huge Kristen Stewart fan, in particular, and she blew me away, per usual.On the Road is a story about a search for meaning in life - the "It." These young people were driven by their personal searches for God, their fathers (and in some ways their mothers), and a place to call home. They found all of those things in each other. Particularly, Sal Paradise (Jack Kerouac) found those things in Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady) and vice versa. They hurt people along the way and made horrible life choices. But, they lived out loud and inspired others to do the same. This movie did an amazing job of showing the joy and pain in this journey that Sal took.So, if you like road movies about self-discovery and you want to see America roll in front of your eyes in all of its beauty and harshness, then you will enjoy this movie. It's not the book. It's its own thing. One thing I wish Walter Salles, the director, and the screen writer, Jose Rivera, would've done differently is show how interconnected Sal/Jack started to feel with the world. He started to see his friends in people of all different races and backgrounds. He started to see himself in everyone. "Life is the road and all roads lead to the world." He became a world citizen because of his travels and I think that would've been important to emphasize somehow. It's the same thing that Malcom X discovered before he was killed and Martin Luther King, Jr, knew before he was murdered. I'm not comparing Jack Kerouac to these men. I'm just saying that they all became global thinkers.

the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!

I haven't read the book so maybe I am not able to have an opinion. But, I do and the fact is I found this film extremely dissapointing and the story line wanting in every respect. I got what the film was trying to do, it has strong elements of self discovery in it but I found everything flat and I was unmoved and disconnected with all the characters. This experience makes me think that the book may not be a strong piece of literature and that the film did the best it could with weak material. Or, maybe the film did not capture the true essence of the book. The best character is Mary Lou (Kristen Stewart) which I would not have seen myself saying prior to watching the film. I recommend for those who do want to watch a decent and moving film on self discovery to watch 'Into the wild' with Emile Hirsch instead of this. 'Into the wild' is an interesting, exciting and moving film. I appreciate my view is not complimentary but wanted to write this to express my dissapointment on this film.

Well what can I say about this film. I liked it but I didn't love it. It just didn't capture me by the heart and like afew other people I thought some of the actors were miscast. Garrett Hetlund was good but not great, he's not a character that makes u really care about him. He's not so much going on a journey but just stumbling from and running away from himself and ultimately any responsibilities to anyone and anything. I just didn't connect with him and the only time I did was right at the end of the film when he is all alone. Tom Sturridge, Kirsten Dunst and Kristen Stewart were all very good and for me were the best characters in the film. I loved Mary Lou's dancing scene and for me that gave me more sense of their passion for life than any of the sex scenes in the film. I did feel like it dragged in places, the first 15 minutes seemed the longest of my life but that's because I think, like most of us I've got used to big feature films and aren't used to the slower pace of some indie films anymore. It's not one that you'd watch over and over again but definitely worth watching at least once.

Although all the events might not necessarily be truthful, it is a true adaptation of the book and a very fast-paced, bizarre sort of film. I enjoyed the way it focused so much on the people and how they brought things upon themselves - just like in the novel. I thought the actors were well cast too. Very enjoyable.

It was a gift

Great film and even better book.