Product Details

• Actors: Justin Timberlake, Jeff Bridges
• Format: Color, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Anchor Bay
• DVD Release Date: November 17, 2009
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B002PB4I50
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,628 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Open Road" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Jeff Bridges excels at playing grizzled, somewhat compromised men who have a variety of things to be embarrassed about. Thus he's apt casting for The Open Road, a father-son picture that puts its estranged duo on a road trip in the Midwest. Bridges plays a former big-league ballplayer, now contentedly boozing through his golden years signing things at card shows and telling anecdotes in bars. Justin Timberlake plays the son, a joyless baseball player who's worried about his mother (Mary Steenburgen), due for a tricky operation and demanding to see her ex-husband. When son travels to fetch his errant father, Dad agrees to come--but getting him across half the country is another story. This brings up one of the problems of the modern road movie: with modern convenience being what it is, how do you convincingly force people into a car together for a few days? Writer-director Michael Meredith contrives a few reasons, and if you're won over by the movie's amiable tone and the laid-back acting, maybe you'll go along with it. Timberlake, a capable actor in other circumstances (Alpha Dog, for instance), struggles with the first-person role here; he doesn't add a great deal of seasoning to the mix. Kate Mara brings her usual equilibrium to a hard-to-justify role as Timberlake's ex-girlfriend/best pal, who tags along on the road trip for complicated, not entirely credible reasons. Nice people like Harry Dean Stanton and Lyle Lovett pop up in small parts, and roadside motels and cornfields add flavor. But it's up to Jeff Bridges to generate the reasons for sticking with this one, and he comes through with a shrewd portrait of a guy who'd really like to be somewhere else--someplace where they don't hold you accountable for things. As for director Meredith, he's the son of Don Meredith, longtime Dallas Cowboys star and broadcaster. Any similarities between "Dandy Don" and Jeff Bridges's character are surely unavoidable. --Robert Horton

Stills from The Open Road (Click for larger image)

Product Description

In this heartwarming comedy, minor leaguer Carlton Garrett (Justin Timberlake) takes an unexpected road trip to track down his estranged father, legendary baseball player Kyle Garrett (Jeff Bridges) when Carlton’s mother (Mary Steenburgen) becomes sick. Knowing his charming yet painfully immature dad’s likelihood to disappoint, Carlton enlists his on-again-off-again girlfriend Lucy (Kate Mara) for emotional support. Once reunited, Carlton struggles to deal with the series of misadventures caused by his father’s antics, including missed flights, car trouble and bathroom brawls. Years of miscommunication, frustration and comically awkward attempts at bonding come to a head as the mismatched trio make their way from Ohio back home to Houston to reunite the family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Movie was average, but the Blu couldn't sell me either, November 15, 2009

By	Steve Kuehl "SLV Video" (Ben Lomond, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Open Road [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

I am a big Jeff Bridges fan and appreciate everything he has done and such, but I didn't feel grabbed by this one at all. Not that there were horrible performances or bad film making, it just had a slew of little things peppered throughout that made me not give this the above average recommendation.

The story follows a minor league ball player (Timberlake) suffering a slump, who has to get his famous big league dad (Bridges) to make a final visit to his estranged and dying ex-wife. Through some poorly staged events, they have to make it a road trip together across several states (instead of flying) to make this union happen. The scenery is quite beautiful in some of the sequences, and it even upstages some of the sparse dialogue as the long-parted kin find a way to re-connect. Kate Mara is the tag-along friend who offers the love interest of Timberlake, but the chemistry never materializes in ways it should have.

The Blu quality is average to below average, with the strong showing being the opening aerial shot of the baseball game (must have used a different camera - they usually seem to in those kinds of scenes). Some of the color/contrasts in the open road shots shine nicely, but the amount of indoor and dark sequences show several weaknesses. The 5.1 is uneventful, and the only supplement offers little insight other than some typical fluff. Did not get to the commentary as I could not venture sitting through this twice. Three for the film content and Mr. Bridges (the supporting cast of Steenburgen and Harry Dean Stanton are not present enough to warrant dissecting their screen time). I love road films so maybe this will give you some light entertainment on a slow night.