On the Road

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  • Opened December 21, 2012 
  • 2 hr 3 min
  • R | Drug Use, Strong Sexual Content and Language
  • Sal Paradise (Sam Riley), a young writer whose life is shaken and ultimately redefined by the arrival of Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund), a free-spirited, fearless, fast talking Westerner and his girl, Marylou (Kristen Stewart). Traveling cross-country, Sal and Dean venture out on a personal quest for freedom from the conformity and conservatism engulfing them in search of the unknown, themselves, and the pursuit of "it" -- the pure essence of experience. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen
  • Director: Walter Salles, Jr.
  • Genres: Drama

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Critics say So-So
56 out of 100
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Fan Reviews

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How It Really Was On The Road!

by jzactor

I admit I was pleasantly surprised by this film. Friends told me it is too long and overdone (whatever that means) but I liked it, a lot! It gives what I would say, is a clear, accurate, exciting,...

No
On the Road

by sbright500

This is the worst movie I have seen in years. It didn't really seem to be representative of the late 1940's and early 1950's at all. It was dreary and depressing, and I left the theater angry to...

Must Go!
Letting Go of The Past

by gilbert282

Post WWII... Survivors of the depression, of the war- Overnight a new era was strewn before them. Ideals were being born, new cultures blossoming, business was booming.,it was as if the earth had...

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Critic Reviews

88
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
| Joe Williams

Notwithstanding the characters’ spiritual camaraderie, Salles’ emphasizes the hard physical labor and loneliness in Sal’s story, including the jittery rigors of the writing process. When he reaches a crossroads choice between down-and-out Dean and his own rising career, Sal senses that except for the words on a typewritten scroll, his life on the road is gone, real gone. Read full review

75
Boston Globe
| Ty Burr

A straightforward and rather sane version of the events described in the book and, against all odds, a surprisingly effective movie. Read full review

75
San Francisco Chronicle
| Mick LaSalle

The result is a movie that, like the book, is episodic and has dips in energy but has more than its share of glory and illumination. Read full review

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
| Steven Rea

On the Road is an honorable homage to the bennies-and-booze-and-bebop-driven hegiras undertaken by the fiercely dedicated anti-establishment duo. But in Salles, screenwriter Jose Rivera and company's effort to get the details right, they only get so far. And it's not quite far enough. Read full review

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Sam Riley in "On The Road."