Friday, April 30, 2010

NOW Toronto: Passenger Side

originally published at NOW Toronto:

by Norman Wilner

Editorial Rating: NNNN (out of 5)

In writer/director Matthew Bissonnette’s follow-up to Who Loves The Sun, brothers Tobey and Michael (played by the director’s brother Joel and Step Brothers’ Adam Scott) spend a day driving around the greater Los Angeles area looking for Tobey’s ex-girlfriend.

It’s like a Richard Linklater movie from the mid-1990s: very little happens, and that’s sort of the point. The conversation is engaging, the two leads snap instantly into the relaxed but guarded vibe of lifelong adversaries, and the script parcels out little bits of information as needed.

The twist at the end is unnecessary, though. Had Passenger Side ended five minutes earlier, it would have been much more fulfilling.

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