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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Universal Studios
Salesrank: 24391
Released: April 8, 2008 |
| Our Price: $5.81 |
| Used Price: $1.50 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Academy Award® nominee Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo and Academy Award® winners Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino deliver riveting performances in the gripping thriller Reservation Road. A powerful human story of anger, revenge and great courage, this film takes you on an intense journey that follows two fathers as their families and lives converge after the events of one fateful night. "Suspenseful, emotional and completely engrossing" (Pete Hammond, Maxim), Reservation Road is "a deft, satisfying thriller" (Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly).
Description of Reservation Road:
After grappling with civil war in Some Mother's Son and Hotel Rwanda, Terry George turns to the tranquility of the American suburbs. Based on the novel by John Burnham Schwartz, Reservation Road marks a smooth transition into seemingly alien territory. The Northern Irish director first introduces Connecticut professor Ethan (Joaquin Phoenix) and attorney Dwight (Mark Ruffalo). One night, they end up on the same road; Ethan is returning with his wife (Jennifer Connelly) and kids from a school recital, Dwight and his son are heading home after a baseball game. In an instant, Ethan's boy is killed in a hit-and-run accident. Dwight knows what he's done, but doesn't say a word, as he doesn't want to lose custody of his child. Impatient for justice, Ethan becomes convinced the authorities will never solve the case, so he tries to track down the killer himself. Coincidence builds on coincidence--Dwight's ex-wife (Mira Sorvino) teaches Ethan's daughter (Elle Fanning), and Ethan hires Dwight as his lawyer. Just as the attorney-client relationship forces the two men to work together, the script asks the same of these gifted actors. Fortunately, Phoenix and Ruffalo rise to the occasion. That said, movies about grieving parents can be a tough sell. It remains to be seen whether Reservation Road will benefit from the success of In the Bedroom and Mystic River--or suffer from the onslaught of cinematic grief. At the very least, it allows more light in at the end of its dark journey into the soul. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Reservation Road (click for larger image).
Reservation Road Reviews:
Reservation Road 
2009-10-07 - Very good movie; excellent direction.
Actual subject that touches our conscience .
Actors were superb.
"Reservaton Road" is a film everyone should watch
2009-06-15 - Joaquin Phoenix is my favorite actor,and "Reservation Road" is another one of his great roles.You can feel his pain,and also the guilt and suffering of Mark Ruffalo,who's also fantastic.I never even heard of this film untill it came out on cable a couple of months ago.
The ending really grabs you."Reservation Road"is a film everyone should watch.This could happen to anyone of us.
Hit and Miss 
2009-04-23 - Such a strong premise, but what a weak delivery. There was no chemistry between the cast, Phoenix couldn't have been more miscast, and the plot oversights couldn't have been bigger. For such an intensely tragic event there is virtually no emotional expression, and what little there is comes across melodramatic. Not a particularly strong film for its own merits or as a vanity piece for any of the cast members.
reservation road review
2009-03-25 - this movie was so good and dramatic. mark ruffalo is not recognized enough for his work and joaquin phoenix put a lot of heart into this flick
you can tell he put so much heart into this flick
Excruciating 
2009-02-04 - Great plot in this suburban hit-and-run tale that puts two mild-mannered New England guys on a collision path. Mark Ruffalo is ideal as the lawyer who doesn't stop after hitting Joaquin Phoenix's son on a dark road in surburban Connecticut. This is so well done that it seems almost plausible, except the cops would not give up so easily in real life. The most glaring unlikelihood is when a trooper doesn't bother to look in Rufallo's garage during a neighborhood canvas for the crime vehicle. Otherwise, this is top notch movie making.
