The End of the Tour is directed by James Ponsoldt and based on the memoirs of David Lipsky during his week long interview with famous author David Foster Wallace. Ponsoldt directed one of my favorite films of all time, The Spectacular Now, and is also directing an upcoming Tom Hanks film, so I was looking forward to seeing him take on The End of the Tour. I'll say right off the bat, this isn't a film for everyone. It's for all intents and purposes a 'talkie' that really asks its viewers to pay attention for the entire length of the film or else you'll miss it.
With that said, I liked the movie, but I didn't love it the way I thought I would. Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel star alongside each other as the two Davids, and have great on screen chemistry. But it's always hard watching an Eisenberg film. For the most part, he never really escapes his own personality, which is the reason why he was a brilliant choice for Mark Zuckerberg, but I digress. He does fairly well with the emotional weight his character carries at the book- ends of the film, but his performance and character for that matter is pretty dull. The worst part is that he has an incredibly annoying laugh throughout the film, which I hope wasn't intentional.
Jason Segel on the other hand really impressed me. At the surface, his character is also pretty dull, but when the film goes on it begins to make sense as to why he's playing Wallace like that. It's then you realize just how brilliantly guarded and reserved he is as David Foster Wallace. Being subtle as an actor is often one of the most difficult things an actor can do. But the film then tries to spray conflicts on the two lead characters that don't feel natural. The small romance part of this film falls completely flat on its face.
Unfortunately, I found the story built around these two guys to be uninteresting and surprisingly dry. It also is almost mimicking a Richard Linklater film, and fell short in a lot of ways in doing so. I really like Ponsoldt, but I just don't know that he was the man for the job. His ability to pull off the human drama that floods the latter half of the movie is impressive, but it doesn't really save what came before it.
+Segel's understated performance
+Does have some things to say about life
-Feels too much like a Linklater film
-Dull characters, dry story
6.4/10
With that said, I liked the movie, but I didn't love it the way I thought I would. Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel star alongside each other as the two Davids, and have great on screen chemistry. But it's always hard watching an Eisenberg film. For the most part, he never really escapes his own personality, which is the reason why he was a brilliant choice for Mark Zuckerberg, but I digress. He does fairly well with the emotional weight his character carries at the book- ends of the film, but his performance and character for that matter is pretty dull. The worst part is that he has an incredibly annoying laugh throughout the film, which I hope wasn't intentional.
Jason Segel on the other hand really impressed me. At the surface, his character is also pretty dull, but when the film goes on it begins to make sense as to why he's playing Wallace like that. It's then you realize just how brilliantly guarded and reserved he is as David Foster Wallace. Being subtle as an actor is often one of the most difficult things an actor can do. But the film then tries to spray conflicts on the two lead characters that don't feel natural. The small romance part of this film falls completely flat on its face.
Unfortunately, I found the story built around these two guys to be uninteresting and surprisingly dry. It also is almost mimicking a Richard Linklater film, and fell short in a lot of ways in doing so. I really like Ponsoldt, but I just don't know that he was the man for the job. His ability to pull off the human drama that floods the latter half of the movie is impressive, but it doesn't really save what came before it.
+Segel's understated performance
+Does have some things to say about life
-Feels too much like a Linklater film
-Dull characters, dry story
6.4/10