Rails & Ties

PG-13

Released Oct 26, 2007

1 hr. 41 min.

Drama

List

34%

47 Reviews

Tomatometer

58%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Engineer Tom Stark (Kevin Bacon) kills a suicidal woman when his train slams into her car. Suspended from his job, he must confront his wife Megan's (Marcia Gay Harden) illness finally, but Megan announces she is going to leave him. Unexpectedly, the son (Miles Heizer) of the dead woman, arrives on the couple's doorstep and moves in with them.

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Critics Consensus

Despite the strong cast, Rails & Ties is an emotionally overwrought, not entirely believable melodrama.

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Frances H

Why do the critics always love the films that are violent, depressing as hell, and involve characters such as drug dealers and gangsters. But when a film involves situations that touch your heart and show human beings coping with situations that are horrible with dignity and compassion, they label it as too emotional and sentimental! Well, real people liked this movie and I did, too. Melodrama is the way real people die of cancer--I know, because I watched my father sister die of it and it was horrible. The death here is what we would like death to be, but seldom is. However, do we go to the movies to see real life? Maybe critics do, but real people don't. The movies are makebelieve, that is why they are movies. The more they are like real life, the less we like them, because we go to the movies to escape from real life. So when a movie plot has two deaths in it and the grieving survivors find each other and comfort each other, that's what we want in the face of tragedy--for something good to come out of it, for the dying person to find some happiness before death and die peacefully. Sure, that's not the way it happens, but it is the way we wish it did. And this subtlety, superbly acted film does that.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/07/17

Full Review

Audience Member

A bit depressing and confusing not too bad though

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

To lose one mother may be regarded as a misfortune

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

From the very start of the movie you know exactly where it's going to end up and the journey up to that point isn't really that interesting.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One star for the acting.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

If not for the powerful performances from Bacon and Harden I don't think I would have made it through this. An okay movie with an interesting premise that came together pretty believably considering. Lagged a bit in the middle with the ending leaving it up to you to decide what happened next. 06.13 "Poignant tale of a train engineer who has to deal with a professional tragedy while trying to care for his cancer-stricken wife, faltering marriage and a new and unexpected member of the family."

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

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Alison Eastwood

Director

Kevin Bacon

Tom Stark

Marcia Gay Harden

Megan Stark

Miles Heizer

Davey Danner

Marin Hinkle

Renee

Eugene Byrd

Otis Higgs

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David Fear

Time Out

Rated: 1/5

Nov 18, 2011

Full Review

Andrea Gronvall

Time Out

Rated: 2/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

Christy Lemire

Associated Press

It's hard to get over the implausibility of the premise in Micky Levy's script, even though the characters themselves acknowledge that they're in a ridiculous situation.

Jan 2, 2008

Full Review

Martin Tsai

New York Sun

Unfortunately, here you get a Lifetime original movie with a bigger budget.

Apr 21, 2023

Full Review

Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

In common with her famous actor/filmmaker father, Ms. Eastwood seems to have an instinctual grasp of the petty grievances and triumphs of working-class American life.

Apr 28, 2011

Full Review

Ryan Cracknell

Movie Views

Feels so forced and determined to convey a certain emotion that its authenticity is lost. And when there's no sense of authenticity, there's no emotional attachment.

Jun 28, 2008

Full Review

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Synopsis

Engineer Tom Stark (Kevin Bacon) kills a suicidal woman when his train slams into her car. Suspended from his job, he must confront his wife Megan's (Marcia Gay Harden) illness finally, but Megan announces she is going to leave him. Unexpectedly, the son (Miles Heizer) of the dead woman, arrives on the couple's doorstep and moves in with them.

Director: Alison Eastwood
Screenwriter: Micky Levy
Distributor: Warner Independent
Production Co: Malpaso Company
Rating: PG-13 (Brief Nudity|An Accident Scene|Mature Thematic Elements|Momentary Strong Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 26, 2007, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 31, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA): $21.4K

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