jmallaney

This is a road movie where two somewhat estranged college friends drive from California to Chicago for their 10-year reunion. Individually they both have areas of dissatisfaction in their own lives and uncertainty about what they are to each other. Over the course of the journey they reestablish their bond and being to gain clarity about what they want in their own lives and from each other. Spoilers: having disconnected with everyone by going to Japan to teach English to five year-olds after college, Michael flies to California to meet up with his college friend Josh and take a road trip to Chicago for their 10 year reunion. They go to Vegas, car-henge, the grand canyon, visit a girl with whom they had a sexual escapade, reminisce, push each other's buttons, reject each other, and start sleeping together. Josh had accepted his lot was to be unhappy in life, feeling he shared a connection with Michael he would never find again. Michael, it turns out, is going to be married to a woman in Japan, and seems to have sought out Josh due to uncertainty with his choices in life. It's a well-written movie. It's engaging and never especially warm and fuzzy or even romantic. Early conversations resonate with later events, including Michael's description of marriages in Japan. The resolution didn't seem clear, but was satisfying. We see photos in the credits which may be from the past but also from the future--a plane wing which could be Michael returning to Japan after the reunion, and a photo of Josh and Michael with a new tattoo of Route 66 on Josh's shoulder, which might indicate the two are together following the reunion.