"On the Road" is a drama adapted by a novel with the same name. The film and book follow the adventures of Jack Kerouac traveling the US in the late 1940's. The film's main character Sal, based on Kerouac and played by Sam Riley, is looking for inspiration with his writing and ends up traveling the country with friends. These friends include Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund), who is the main force pulling Sal and others along on various adventures. Dean is fixated on women, drugs, intellectualism, and amusement and his romances with his 16 year-old former bride Marylou (Kristen Stewart) and the mother of kids/later wife Camille (Kirsten Dunst) are part of the drama.
This film is unfortunately a bit slow developing. It really takes time to get going despite opening with Sal already on one of his travels. The film attempts to chronicle the Beat Generation but really doesn't give a lot of context as to what motivates the Beatnik characters. There are some interesting supporting turns in the film by Tom Sturridge, Amy Adams, Viggo Mortensen, Elisabeth Moss, and Steve Buscemi. The most impressive actor in the film by far though was Hedlund, who was really good as the enigmatic Dean. I felt Dunst didn't get much of a role here so not as much material for her to work with. Stewart had a much juicer role though didn't do a lot with it.
Overall this film is a bit of a snoozer and doesn't really explain the Beat Generation. Watch this one for the expanded cast though mainly for Hedlund - C+
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