On the Road

I'm amazed how often some actors get type-cast. Sometimes without them even knowing it. I am of course talking about the female Ben Affleck, Kristen Stewart (though that isn't really fair to Ben Affleck. Maybe he's just the male version of Kristen Stewart). For some reason, she always plays 'relatable' young women over whom two men are wanting to be with/ lusting over. And you'd think that this would be the movie to stop that, but no. This is an adaptation of the generation defining book by Jack Kerouac, which came out in 1957, and is based on a series of journeys that Kerouac undertook with his friend, Neal Cassidy, during the 1940s. It is also the most famous novel from the beatnik era, and has long since been thought to be unfilmable. I did read the book before seeing the film, and I can tell you right away the film does not compare.

The main plot follows a series of 5 trips that Sal Paradise takes across America, all involving his hero Dean Moriarty. Along the way, they interact with various recurring characters, including Carlo Marx, a young beat poet, Old Bull Lee and his wife, Jane, Mary Lou and Camille, two of Dean's wives.We get veiws into Dean's unorthodox home life, that paint him as a charming drifter with no concept of responsibility. All of the characters are based on people that Kerouac knew in real life; Sal is the fictional embodiment of Kerouac himself, Dean is Neal Cassidy, Carlo Marx is Allen Ginsberg and Old Bull Lee is William S. Burroughs. The film manages to stick as close to the books narrative, but sometimes that isn't necessarily a good thing, as we will see.

So, firstly, was there anything good in the movie? Well, yeah, is the short answer. The women were characterised well. In the books, the women are basically just attachments to the men and aren't given anything to do except have sex and get the marajuana ready. In the film, they are given characters! Actual real characters. And both Amy Adams and Kirsten Dunst are very good. Kristen Stewart is okay. And that really sums up the whole movie. This film exists. That is the nicest compliment that I can give it. It's just okay. Not terrible, but definitely not good. So, while it gains points for having good female characters, it loses them immediately for being dull.

Of course, the thing with the women will only come to light if you have read the book. Speaking of the book, I'm not the biggest fan of Kerouac. There were good parts, and the way it is written is beautiful. But there are parts that I didn't get, and if I read it again, I still probably wouldn't get it. The characters are quite selfish, especially Dean. And even though he has this charm that shines through the pages, there were some times when I just couldn't understand what Sal saw in him. And that was sort of the point. It was like Frankenstein to me. The author builds up this character so you expect him to be pretty amazing, but after you finish the book you just find him to be a dick. Amazingly, this didn't come out in the film.

I don't know what the filmmakers were trying to do, but they seemed to be trying to make Dean a 'nice guy'. Or at least sympathetic. In the book, we are shown Dean warts and all, and the strength comes from the fact that even though he is a completely selfish person, Sal still thinks of him as a great mind, and a great man despite what he did. Here, there is no charm, no charisma, just an actor trying to do what he thinks is Dean. And it doesn't work. By trying to make Dean a nice guy, you are trying to find excuses for the things that he does. It just can't be done. He's almost an anti-hero in the book (or at least he was to me. Don't take everything I say about the book as law, I'm not an expert) and in the film they try to make him a romantic lead.

So, the book remains unfilmable. Really, the best way and the only way to do the book justice is to not do a direct adaptation. Make it insane, make it crazy! Make it imaginative. You need to capture the essence of the book, not the story. In the end, the story isn't what matters, it's the way it's written and what it has to say. Give this one a miss. But do read the book, I may not understand it all that well, but it does need to be read. Sorry this took so long, and that it's so short. But guess who's been sick again! Anyway, next time should be the Japanese film I Wish. So, until next time readers.