I'm sure thousands if not millions of people have enjoyed it to some degree ever since it debuted back in 1971, but ever since experiencing Disney World's "It's a Small World" attraction many moons ago, I've equated it, the "wooden" animatronic children that populate it, and that incessant title song as nothing short of pure torture masquerading as entertainment.
Of course, the point of the ditty and its theme park attraction is that we're all connected in ways much closer than we expect. And that's never been truer than in a small Connecticut town through which Reservation Road runs and from where the movie of the same name gets its title.
In it, Joaquin Phoenix plays a professor with a beautiful wife (that being Jennifer Connelly), two good kids, and what appears to be a happy life. That contrasts with the character played by Mark Ruffalo, a lawyer who barely gets to see his kid, and when he does, he gets nothing but grief from his ex-wife (Mira Sorvino) about always being late and, in her opinion, generally being a bad dad.
Thus, the stage is set (cue the "Small World" music) when the two families literally and figuratively collide for the first of several times. That's not to make light of what occurs next, as it truly is tragic. Harried, hurried and distracted, Ruffalo's character swerves to avoid another car and accidentally hits and kills the professor's young son who's standing by the road at night, letting fireflies loose.
To make matters worse, and choosing what he believe is the lesser of two evils, the lawyer doesn't stop as he's racing to get his boy back to his mother. Grief naturally ensues due to the devastating familial crisis, and Phoenix and Connelly deliver heartbreakingly emotional performances.
Guilt is also present, as Dwight gets stuck further in the muck by not reporting what he did, all while trying to cover his tracks and not appear guilty to anyone. That's when the Small World spirits strike again, as the grieving dad, fed up with the police getting nowhere, retains the law firm where the lawyer works, with Dwight being the main contact. Then there's the little bit where his ex-wife turns out to be the music teacher to the dead boy's sister. Yes, it truly is a small world after all.
And thus also a contrived one, at least in terms of cinematic storytelling. The filmmakers -- writer/director Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda") and co-screenwriter John Burnham (who's adapting his own novel) -- may think they've constructed a tantalizing and emotionally powerful tale, with all sorts of unique twists and turns.
Unfortunately, what likely looked good in theory simply doesn't work that well in execution. That's mainly due to the same sort of unlikely "what are the odds of running into you" coincidences that also bedeviled the likes of "Crash" (although it feels worse here since so much rests on such unlikely meetings and character ties to one another).
Beyond that, as well as telegraphed developments and bits of dialogue that are far too on-the-nose in terms of delivering messages, the biggest miscue is probably letting the audience know the identity of the hit and run driver. While the intention is to raise the suspense by giving the viewer super position over the characters (to varying degrees), I think the tactic backfires. It probably would have worked better had we not known the lawyer was the culprit until or near the end of the film.
That way, and with a lot more tact, little bits and pieces of the truth could have seeped out, thus making the act (and the betrayal of the guilty lawyer not telling his client he's also the perp) that much more devastating. And it might have ensured a second viewing to watch for the clues that were there all along, but just weren't obvious the first time around.
All of which means some good performances as well as decent dramatic and emotion-laden material are pretty much all for naught. While it isn't exactly a dead end, "Reservation Road" is too bumpy and features too many switchbacks that ultimately don't make the trip within it any more interesting. The film rates as a 4 out of 10.
![[Screen It]](/images/underground_header.jpg)