The first film from writer/director Jordan Roberts, "Around the Bend" is a seriocomedy that details the skewed relations among four males in the Lair family: Henry (Michael Caine), the fathers, who's practically on his deathbed; his son, Turner (Christopher Walken), who's been missing for three decades; Turner's grown son, Jason (Josh Lucas), a banker with a young son who's in the process of getting divorced; and Jason's little boy, Jonah.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
The film opens at the down-at-the-heels Lair home in Los Angeles, where Henry, Jason and Jonah live, along with Henry's attractive nurse. A former archeologist, Henry is planning a road trip to Albuquerque. His travel plans are thwarted, however, when Turner shows up out of the blue. (He had abandoned Jason 30 years earlier, after his wife's death, and Jason was raised by Henry.) Henry and great-grandson Zach decide to celebrate Turner's sudden arrival by dining at the local Kentucky Fried Chicken. Jason comes along, but he is taciturn and eyes his father with suspicion. Turner seems detached and claims he can only stay the night.
The lack of warmth among the four generations propels Henry to concoct a scheme that will bring them together: Aware he's about to die, Henry's will demands that all three surviving Lair males go on a trip, on a kind of scavenger hunt. He also dictates that they must eat only at KFCs and spread his ashes along the way. Although Turner and Jason start off at odds with one another, the togetherness forced upon them by Henry's bequest eventually leads to feelings of love and forgiveness.
The review of this Movie prepared by Elana Starr
