Manny's Movie Musings: "Detour" is an indie flick about a teen (played by Tye Sheridan) who enlists the help of a young gangster (Emory Cohen) to kill Sheridan's dad (Stephen Moyer). The story's strengths are the talented, young cast (Sheridan and Cohen); and a manipulation of the timeline to produce a clever twist at the beginning of the third act plus a more shocking twist near the end. "Detour" is weakened by the dialogue Cohen speaks, making the actor seem like a wannabe Tarantino character and the writer/director just a plain, wannabe Tarantino. My most memorable, movie moment of "Detour" is the revelation of the twist ending that turned this somewhat entertaining movie from a suspense/thriller into a tragedy.Mannysmemorablemoviemoments

Skilfully written, energetically performed and full of delicious twists, "Detour" (2016) is a highly enjoyable crime thriller that intrigues by using an interesting structural device, entertains by keeping its action well-paced and displays its writer's affection for film noir by referencing movies that were clearly some of his greatest influences. The plot and its characters are consistent with those which were typically found in noir movies of the past and its fatalistic qualities are also consistent with the ethos of the style.Young, wealthy L.A. law student Harper (Tye Sheridan) is consumed with grief about his mother who's in a coma and fighting for her life and he's also full of anger and hatred for his stepfather, Vincent (Stephen Moyer) who he blames for his mother's predicament. He thinks that his stepfather is uncaring because he's failed to regularly visit his wife in hospital and furthermore, suspects that Vincent is having an affair with a Las Vegas cocktail waitress called Rosy Hills.One night, after visiting his mother in hospital, Harper drowns his sorrows at a nearby bar where he overhears a guy called Johnny Ray (Emory Cohen) talking about a scam that he and his girlfriend Cherry (Bel Powley) had been involved in during which she had lured unsuspecting men to a hotel room so that he could steal their cash. Unfortunately, when one of their victims had become violent and cut Cherry's face with a knife, she'd produced a gun and shot the man dead. Johnny and Harper get involved in some unpleasant exchanges when Johnny gets offended about Harper listening in to his conversation but later, as the two men talk and the inebriated Harper describes his issues with his stepfather; Johnny offers to take care of Vincent for a price ($20,000) and Harper seemingly agrees.Next morning, the hung-over Harper is shocked and horrified when Johnny and Cherry turn up at the front door of his mansion all ready to go to Las Vegas to take care of Vincent. Harper tries to get out of going but Johnny isn't prepared to take no for an answer and it's at this point that the narrative splits into two parallel versions of what follows.In one plot-line, Harper accompanies Johnny and Cherry on a road trip to Vegas during which they get stopped by a state trooper who had seen them leave a diner without paying and visit a menacing drug dealer called Frank (John Lynch) who demands payment of an outstanding debt from the terrified Johnny. In the second plot-line, Harper simply stays at home and resolves his problems with Vincent in a different way. The way in which these two plot-lines eventually dovetail into each other is achieved by a neat time flip that enables the story to proceed to its surprising conclusion.One of the most interesting and enjoyable aspects of the movie is the way in which writer and director Christopher Smith openly acknowledges some of his influences. Examples of this are the way in which the original agreement between Harper and Johnny reflects a similar arrangement in Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" (1951), a swimming pool scene at Harper's mansion which strongly evokes a memorable sequence in "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) and a situation involving the state trooper where, after Cherry turns the tables on him, anyone who's seen "Thelma & Louise" (1991) will immediately know where he's going to end up! Harper's name is taken from Paul Newman's 1966 movie of the same name (as confirmed by a poster on Harper's bedroom wall) and Dr Ulmer, at the hospital, gets his name from Edgar G Ulmer's ultra-gritty 1945 movie also called "Detour".Smith cleverly uses an excerpt from Al Roberts' narration from the 1945 movie in two contemporaneous scenes which feature Harper during his road trip and sitting in his home watching the movie on TV and also shows considerable flair in the way in which he uses split-screens. His characters are made real by great performances from Tye Sheridan as the intense main protagonist, Bel Powley as the damaged Cherry and Emory Cohen as Johnny Ray who, as well as being a volatile thug periodically makes philosophical statements by, for example, reportedly paraphrasing Confucius or remarking that "as you get older, you realize that life isn't about the choice you make, it's about the one you're given"."Detour" (2016) is so entertaining on so many levels that it's surprising that it hasn't been given the exposure it needs to achieve the commercial success that it deserves.

I was totally caught off guard by this movie, as I had heard nothing about it before, until I saw it today on HBO, and it turned out to be pretty d*mn good!Detour is a small road trip thriller about a teenage boy who suspects that his stepfather did something bad to his Mom, and as he tries to figure out what to do about it, he makes some stupid decisions which get him into trouble. As the events of the film unfold we start to realize that the mess he made is even worse than we thought, and there are some crazy and unexpected twists and turns along the way.I missed the first 5 minutes of the movie, but it was easy to pick up, and due to the acting, the realistic dialogue, the tension and the amazing camera-work I was hooked from the moment I started watching to the very end. The performances are top notch; both Tye Sheridan and Emory Cohen - who I had never heard about before - are fantastic, as well as the girl, Bel Powley. The story is exciting, and is told in a clever (even if not entirely original) way. There are several instances when the movie goes to unexpected places, and through the unfolding events more and more information gets revealed about the characters, which makes Detour an especially interesting and fun ride. (I guess, at this point, Christopher Smith has got to be one of my favourite directors, as he also directed the 2009 movie "Triangle", which is a similarly unrecognized, underrated thriller, and is a personal favourite of mine.)

Well as this is movie first movie review, I'll keep it to a minimum. With that being said, I didn't expect much from this movie. I didn't really hear a lot about it and there's not a whole lot of actors in it that I'm familiar with, with the exception of Stephen Moyer. I must say I was a bit surprised! Not a great movie that's gonna blow your mind or make you want to watch it over and over, rather, an enjoyable film worth actually watching. There's a little twist that makes it interesting and holds your attention. Actors/actresses did a fine job, they played their parts well and made them very believable. I rated this a 6 because it's worth a lazy Saturday morning watch. Enjoy!!