Potentially riveting material is squandered in Terry George’s Reservation Road, a film that starts off with a jolt but quickly becomes tedious as unneeded coincidences pile up.
Ethan (Joaquin Phoenix) and Grace Learner (Jennifer Connelly) are taking their kids home after son Josh’s recital. They stop at a gas station; daughter Emma uses the restroom while son Josh releases some butterflies by the side of the road.
Meanwhile, attorney Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) is impatiently bringing his own kid to his ex-wife, a late dropoff after attending a baseball game. Fate hits, and Dwight strikes Josh by the road, killing him.
The Learner’s are left to deal with the grief of a young son taken from them, dad Ethan taking it particularly hard and plotting revenge, while Arno, coming to terms with what he’s done, wrestles with turning himself in.
It’s been said that film audiences can accept one giant coincidence per movie; after that, however, you’re treading water. After the initial incident, Reservation Road implausibly piles them on one after another: not only is Dwight the attorney Ethan hires to follow up on the case, but his ex-wife (played by Mira Sorvino) is Ethan’s daughter’s piano teacher.
With such potentially powerful material, it’s unfair of the film to force the characters to interact in such unlikely (and completely unnecessary) scenes; the delicate material takes a giant hit when we begin to question its credibility.
Frequent instant messaging scenes don’t help either; some day, filmmakers will realize there are more involving things to show us than words being typed on a screen.
Ultimately, the film feels like an acting showcase for Phoenix and Ruffalo; while they’re both excellent, the storytelling here is almost completely flat.
Still, the film maintains some respect for attempting to handle the sensitive story in an adult and realistic fashion.
