Reservation Road

This movie will be on lifetime one day. It is totally predictable, there is no suspense and it is REALLY boring. They also play sappy, shitty music in the background constantly to remind you that this is a DRAMA and probably to make you forget about how terrible the acting is, which was surprising cause the cast is decent. Nice follow up to Hotel Rwanda, Terry!

Considering that the plot hinges on the death of child, it feels odd, even unfair, to grouse that Reservation Road is grinding, humorless affair. It's not that the film needs some wisecracks, but what's there is such a plodding parade of relentless dour scenes that any sort of variation would be welcome. The principals deliver fine performances but in the service of material that gives so little room for exploration beyond singular emotions like grief and guilt, that they wind up flat presences.

Good cast, bad output. The police was good, but he was only a sideplayer.

A road of good intentions filled with manipulative and contrived melodrama - and a cast that makes it less bumpy. *Preview*: #13#, exp-3*, story, cast, R2.

Held my interest, but nothing special.

Not a masterpiece, but an example of how you can make a good human drama from a very simple idea

depressing

This is about as bad as a film can get without being terrible. This film was hideously badly acted ( in a mental turmoil? chew finger nails repeatedly, stare into space, ignore people talking to you ). The story unfolded in a way that made you think the scriptwriters were making this up as they go along ( "oh, wouldnt it be better if he lived REALLY close?" .. "great!" .."oh, and lets make it that their girl has piano lessons with his ex !" ). The ending was frankly pathetic. A waste of 2 hours

Too many coincidences in the story but who cares, the performances of Phoenix, Connelly, and Ruffalo are great.

After seeing "The Avengers", I thought it was pretty cool to see Mark Ruffalo smash stuff with things. However, after seeing "Reservation Road", I realized it wasn't as cool to see Mark Ruffalo smash children with cars.

"Such TV-movie style set-ups may have worked better in the original novel, but on the silver screen play as an eye-rolling chore." - Jason Clark

It gets credit for good acting by good actors. But then we have to examine the storyline. This is melodrama, pure & simple. Almost everything that happens is predictable. By all means, it explores the aftermath of when families experience a loss, and is must-viewing for anyone in a similar situation who wants to see how others deal with that. But it still feels rote. None of the characters surprise us. It's a paint-by-numbers movie. And the female characters aren't fleshed out at all. Tsk.

The performances are fine in this movie, Mark Ruffalo in particular gives a great performance. However I think the movie fails in the final act. The screenplay falters in the final act. This means that I can't quite recommend this film

The kind of movie that moves you to tears even as you resent the manipulative mechanics of the story.

okay movie

If you're going to start your story by killing a child in front of the audience and then grapple with the emotional consequences for the rest of the film, you can't really afford to make major missteps. This plot has some fairly ridiculous contrivances in store, including Ruffalo's ex-wife (Mira Sorvino) having been the dead boy's music teacher and Phoenix hiring Ruffalo as his lawyer.

Great scenario, good messages and reflections about little details in our lifes. Little mistakes can cause horrible actions. This is very promising and accurate but the character developments are pool. And kinda sexist cuz only about the actions of fathers and very but very poor ending. But still a solid drama / thriller