On the Road

R

Released Dec 21, 2012

2 hr. 19 min.

Drama

List

46%

153 Reviews

Tomatometer

34%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

An aspiring writer (Sam Riley), his new friend (Garrett Hedlund) and his friend's seductive wife (Kristen Stewart) heed the call of the open road.

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Critics Consensus

Beautiful to look at but a bit too respectfully crafted, On the Road doesn't capture the energy and inspiration of Jack Kerouac's novel.

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Jerod S

Hard to capture Kerouac in a movie and this one gets a little character-frantic. Overall it's an interesting journey of Sal and his crazy friend Dean.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

12/25/23

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Audience Member

I really enjoyed the book from my favourite nostalgia era. I don't agree with the rotten tomatoes. I feel the movie exposed the hedoism and the escapism of conservative family suburban drudgery. Personally I loved the book and the movie. I am a bit of a natural writer myself.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

dave s

I read Jack Kerouac's On the Road about 40 years ago and seem to recall enjoying it. The movie adaptation? Not so much. For the uninitiated, the story centres on Sal Paradise, an idealistic budding writer, and Dean Moriarty, a Proust-reading conman and narcissist. Sal, Dean and their pseudo-intellectual friends, all of whom speak in incomprehensible Beat platitudes, are in search of the elusive and undefinable "it" (whatever "it" may be). They don't like conforming to society and resort to theft, vandalism, impaired driving and general bad behavior to prove it. The film itself, directed by Walter Salles, is filled with a cloying jazz score, annoying "snap" editing, bleached out colour tones, and jittery hand-held camera work. While it may be true in spirit to the Kerouac novel, that doesn't mean it's easy or pleasant to watch.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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steve d

I don't know if it is because the source material is dated or the film fails to capture it, but there is nothing going on in the film. Stewart is the one bright spot.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I only watched this movie on Demand for free just because Kristen Stewart is in it and I was utterly disappointed by it. She was BARELY in it that much and she didn't do anything in it except play a slutty young woman who doesn't do much in the movie. The movie is about this young writer who goes on a bunch of random road trips with his buddies and writes about everything interesting (at least according to him) that happens. Oh and he and his friends are all big time smokers and alcoholics. On the Road is a very boring movie with no plot. This is so weird... I swear to God, I saw on TV that the Metascore for this movie was 71%, but now on Google I see it has a 56% Metascore. My TV must've been busted or something. Anyways, this movie was so fucking boring. There was no story, no plot, and the movie's pacing was so slow. None of the characters were interesting, they were all boring cardboard characters. I fell asleep through some parts of this film. It actually took me a couple of nights to finish watching it. This movie was a waste of approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes I'll never get back. That was a total waste of time! I would not watch this movie again! Rating: 4.1/10

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

On the Road is a poem brought to life by the hands of a well matched cast and Walter Salles' stern direction.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

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Walter Salles

Director

Garrett Hedlund

Dean Moriarty

Sam Riley

Sal Paradise

Kristen Stewart

Marylou

Amy Adams

Jane

Tom Sturridge

Carlo Marx

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Garrett Hedlund Talks On the Road

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Sophie Mayer

Sight & Sound

More an extended Urban Outfitters advertisement than an essay on, or into, the exciting experiments of Beat Cinema.

Jul 31, 2018

Full Review

Tom Long

Detroit News

It's not a wreck of a movie; it's not a sleek race car either. But there's heat to be felt here.

Rated: B

Mar 22, 2013

Full Review

Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

Walter Salles's warm but strangely staid adaptation of a piece of literature that was never meant to be tamed as cinema.

Rated: 2/4

Mar 22, 2013

Full Review

James Croot

Stuff.co.nz

... A solid, atmospheric and evocative take on what is a seminal slice of 20th Century literature.

Rated: 3.5/5

Sep 5, 2023

Full Review

Joanne Laurier

World Socialist Web Site

Brazilian director Walter Salles (born 1956) has attempted to make a movie that retains the feel of the Kerouac literary classic.

Feb 28, 2021

Full Review

Jim Ross

TAKE ONE Magazine

Walter Salles' adaptation of ON THE ROAD is an intoxicating but frustrating film. You will be drawn in by the visual and aural hedonism and you'll ignore the self-indulgence and lack of control - but only up to a point.

Feb 13, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

An aspiring writer (Sam Riley), his new friend (Garrett Hedlund) and his friend's seductive wife (Kristen Stewart) heed the call of the open road.

Director: Walter Salles
Executive Producer: Francis Ford Coppola, John Williams, Jerry Leider, Tessa Ross, Arpad Busson
Screenwriter: Jose Rivera
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: Jerry Leider Company, Videofilmes, MK2 Films
Rating: R (Language|Drug Use|Strong Sexual Content)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 21, 2012, Limited
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Mar 22, 2013
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 4, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $717.8K

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