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Reservation Road

Play trailer Poster for Reservation Road R 2007 1h 42m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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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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Reservation Road

Reservation Road

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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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Critics Reviews

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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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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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 Full Review Audience Member Excruciatingly slow but a pretty good story. Kinda depressing as well. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review 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 Full Review cees t Nice thriller. Bit overdramatic. Overall 7.5/10 - Very good. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Read all reviews
Reservation Road

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Cast & Crew

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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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Reservation Road

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Movie Info

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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