Reservation Road

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Reservation Road

R

2007

1h 42m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

36%

Tomatometer

110 Reviews

52%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

The fates of two men and their families converge following a tragic accident. Ethan Lerner (Joaquin Phoenix) and his family are on the way home from their son's cello recital. The same evening, law associate Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) and his son are returning from a ballgame. In a flash, the unthinkable happens, and Ethan's son dies beneath the wheels of Dwight's car. Dwight speeds away, and Ethan, as the only witness to the tragedy, begins his quest for justice.

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Critics Consensus

While the performances are fine, Reservation Road quickly adopts an excessively maudlin tone along with highly improbable plot turns.

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Alonso Duralde

MSNBC

Would-be screenwriters are advised to catch Reservation Road on cable as it provides an object lesson of three awful script clichés that are to be avoided at all costs.

Rated: 2/5

May 1, 2008

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Amy Biancolli

Houston Chronicle

It starts with devastation and closes, after a few reels of narrative dithering, with a climax of hairpin emotional turns and indisputable power.

Rated: 2.5/4

Oct 26, 2007

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Josh Rosenblatt

Austin Chronicle

With a cast as good as this one, you're willing to look past the occasional glaring improbability.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 26, 2007

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Where it fails is in its documentary approach at portraying the mental aftermath of a tragedy and the dearth of plausible satisfaction for the conclusion.

Rated: 6/10

Nov 27, 2020

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Mike D'Angelo

Esquire Magazine

Reservation Road, in its offhanded way, depicts the world of the reasonably affluent 21st-century American more accurately than any other recent film I can think of.

Oct 18, 2018

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Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

What did we do to deserve these grief-counselor filmmakers? They seem to think they can express something that we cannot, and they're so persistent. It's enough to make us want to run away from home.

Apr 28, 2011

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Jon R

I don't understand the critics and people who have issues with this movie. It is a story of tragic event and how all the parties are effected. Ruffalo and Phoenix kill it. If you expect plot twists you can't forsee, then don't watch movies of tragic events. Y'all haters are crazy. Give this film a shot. It's worth it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/22/22

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Audience Member

Excruciatingly slow but a pretty good story. Kinda depressing as well.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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Audience Member

This movie's plot, plot twists and story line were trite and very predictable. Not very interesting. Spend two hours doing something else

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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cees t

Nice thriller. Bit overdramatic. Overall 7.5/10 - Very good.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

What the Hell was that?! The trailer was SO promising and all the signs pointed to a great movie: Focus Features' near perfect track record, an incredible cast, and an intriguing premise. But the moment it starts, you know something is horribly wrong. The tone feels like made-for-TV B-movie schlock you swipe past on Netflix, the preformances are passionless despite ample material and just come off as angsty like these adults are acting like disgruntled teens, the writing is atrocious, completely unfocused and worst of all, the film's unintentionally hilarious when it should be devastating (when the kid says "ow" while another kid is brutally murdered at the same time, the confusingly abrupt ending cut to credits at the weirdest point, Joaquin Phoenix's "tough guy" voice, Mark Ruffalo's bored whining) and of course the plot is unrealistic and doesn't go anywhere convincing for a second, it just comes off as convenient. Just, holy shit, what the Hell happened here?! I was preparing to give it a 4, but the longer I talked about what it did wrong, the more convinced I was that it was a 3/10.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

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Audience Member

Ugh. Too many cheesy cliches, ridiculous coincidences, and an incomplete conclusion. SKIP this depressing drag of melodramatic dung.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

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Terry George

Director

Joaquin Phoenix

Ethan Lerner

Mark Ruffalo

Dwight Arno

Jennifer Connelly

Grace Lerner

Mira Sorvino

Ruth Wheldon

Elle Fanning

Emma Lerner

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Synopsis

The fates of two men and their families converge following a tragic accident. Ethan Lerner (Joaquin Phoenix) and his family are on the way home from their son's cello recital. The same evening, law associate Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) and his son are returning from a ballgame. In a flash, the unthinkable happens, and Ethan's son dies beneath the wheels of Dwight's car. Dwight speeds away, and Ethan, as the only witness to the tragedy, begins his quest for justice.

Director: Terry George
Producer: Nick Wechsler, A. Kitman Ho
Screenwriter: Terry George, John Burnham Schwartz
Distributor: Focus Features
Production Co: Volume One, Focus Features, Reservation Road, Random House Films
Rating: R (Some Disturbing Images|Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 19, 2007, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 8, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $101.4K
Runtime: 1h 42m

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