I'm always a sucker for biographical/true story type movies. I can't say that I ever really got bored with this movie, but that's only because I watched the movie knowing nothing previously about the real life Eric LeMarque. There were some parts that definitely struck me as having been "creative liberties" taken with the script, but I remained interested in the movie particularly because I wanted to educate myself at least a little more on Eric's story. Unfortunately, far too many fake things that made me question whether any bit of the movie was at all realistic were part of the script. I'll venture a guess that the film crew's budget could have played a role in some of the many "goofs" that are not listed on this movie's "Goofs" section. Some of the goofs include (spoilers):
I don't expect every biographical movie to be the most exciting movie to watch, but I do expect them to make better attempts to respect the person whom they are making the movie about by making the story and scenes as accurate as possible. I probably would have given this movie a higher rating had it not been for the completely absent attempt to tell Eric's story more accurately. But I will praise them for at least featuring the real life Eric in footage at the end of the movie. Unfortunately, this is far from the best biographical genre movie that I've watched.
- Dealing with a pack of wolves. The real Eric LeMarque got lost while at Mammoth Mountain - a very large and popular ski resort in the central Sierra Nevadas in California. There hasn't been a single wolf seen in any part of California until after the real life version of this story occurred. And what wolves are now in California are still nowhere near Mammoth Mountain at least yet.
- The movie depicts him having stayed in a cabin in "Winterhaven", a location that is supposedly in Nevada. As far as I know, there are only two Winterhavens in the entire United States. One is on the far south end of California, right across the CA/AZ border from Yuma. The other is Winter Haven, FL. Yeah...like either of those locations has any mountains at all, let alone snow.
- One scene depicts him falling through snow into a frozen over lake or river. As far as I know, no such event really happened to the real Eric LeMarque. However, the real Eric did walk across a flowing river, then fell into the water after losing his balance while trying to drink the river water. The river even swept him downstream toward a waterfall before he was able to make it safely to the side. Why not film this scene more accurately than have him fall into a frozen lake? I think the real life soaking he got could have been filmed to be just as exciting an experience for viewers as the completely fake frozen lake scene that was actually filmed..
- The mountain peak that this movie depicts him having been found on is apparently a fictitious peak named Mount Widow's Peak. Hmm! I'm no Simpsons fan, but try Googling this location and you'll quickly learn that there is no such peak in California or Nevada...but there IS such a peak in the Simpsons TV series.
- In real life, Eric's mom (Susan) did not herself go to the mountain area to search for him. Though she really did initiate concerns about him being missing, the real life Susan contacted Eric's dad, then his dad and stepmother were the ones whom went out to the mountain to notify authorities about his missing status. As much as this movie is more about drama and not as much suspense, you'd think it would have been reasonable to accurately depict these events.
- As other reviewers already mentioned, there is only an 11yr age gap between Mira Sorvino and Josh Hartnett. Nothing against Mira, but I think they should have had somebody else play the Susan LeMarque role.
- The movie depicts Eric as being 6'3", which was mentioned in the Ski Patrol search initiation scene. The real life Eric is 5'10".
I don't expect every biographical movie to be the most exciting movie to watch, but I do expect them to make better attempts to respect the person whom they are making the movie about by making the story and scenes as accurate as possible. I probably would have given this movie a higher rating had it not been for the completely absent attempt to tell Eric's story more accurately. But I will praise them for at least featuring the real life Eric in footage at the end of the movie. Unfortunately, this is far from the best biographical genre movie that I've watched.