The Open Road (2009)

I wanted to see The Open Road since the day I learned it had been filmed in Corpus Christi (esp. the Hooks' home field at Whattaburger Stadium) and Houston, and now I can vouch that the scenery provides plenty of pleasant surprises from that perspective. Justin Timberlake lends a solid turn as Carlton, the college-age minor-league son of a retired-but-famous ballplayer (Jeff Bridges in as sawed-off, cornpone, and distracted a performance as you'll ever see from a master short of Robert Duvall) who reluctantly agrees to track down his longlost father and bring him to his ailing mother's bedside before she undergoes a much-needed heart operation. Accompanying Justin is his former girlfriend Lucy (Kate Mara), now his girl friend -- and a very insightful one at that. She ends up serving as a focal lens for the ways Justin is unaware he is like his father -- a man so allergic to commitment or followthrough that he sabotages every step of the trip. The Open Road is a story about love that endures beyond long separation and the frustrations that the unburnished side of that coin may bear --- because you can't have one without the other. Love is not a storybook. It is a journey. Enjoy! 4 stars.