Riding the Bullet

2004 "The dead travel fast"
5.2| 1h38m| R| en
Details

In 1969, while studying at the University of Maine, artist Alan Parker becomes obsessed with death. Believing he is losing his girlfriend, he tries to commit suicide on his birthday but his friends manage to stop him. He receives news that his mother has had a stroke and decides to hitchhike to visit her at the hospital.

Director

Producted By

Motion Picture Corporation of America

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Reviews

Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
Tommy Prado How these aging actors cannot see how silly they look....anyhoo...we yet get ANOTHER one of Stephen King's lame adaptations from a short story...a moral Tale of Death that is a fine premise however it plays out like Garris took a gaggle of Stephen King's short stories, wadded them up and pasted the pages together...it really is a mess...there are maybe a couple of interesting scares but thats it...the first problem with the movie is lead Jonathan Jackson who definitely represents the dark and brooding "suffering" effeminate male who speaks in an annoying drone that is quite common for the Male of the 2000's..Jackson is just awful as the lead and cannot garner any empathy or sympathy with his drony lackluster acting...I think this movie was probably aimed at the conflicted early 20 somethings...the generation who all got a trophy for existing...the best eye opening parts of this movie was the campy performance of art teacher Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer...very funny and I thought appropriate..and the GORGEOUS Catherine Devine just sitting there as a nude model...that was about the only two scenes that animated me other than snickering at Barbara Hershey-Stein's pie hole....
gamay9 Barbara Hershey was about age 56 when this film was released but she appears younger than in 'The Right Stuff' (1984). In fact, her face looks like a female Kenny Rogers bot-ox job. Her lips are full, cheeks puffy, nothing like the salt-of-the-air earthy looks she had during filming of 'The Right Stuff.' She looks almost like a computer animation.As far as Allen is concerned, he is paranoid, but matures normally and becomes a solid citizen, without any medical intervention. Every time he becomes stressed, his alter-ego tries to tell him what to do and he ends up hallucinating. The longest hallucination is when he bumps his head in a cemetery and is out for a prolonged period of time as he meets George, the Elvis wan-a-bee driving the Plymouth Fury.I didn't read the Stephen King story so I don't know if this was a good or bad screen adaptation. It certainly isn't 'Cat's Eye' or 'Storm of th Century.'
Seb Want to create some really dreadful fiction? If so arm yourself with plenty of flashbacks and plenty of pointless premonitions too. That's what this movie is made up of, there's no real story and the ending is the kind of mawkish crap you'd get from a fifteen year old bashing out their first novel.I couldn't really get into any of the characters, especially the protagonist who just seemed to be whiny and other than having his joint stolen by the grim reaper had little to moan about in the grand scheme of things. I didn't really warm to his mother either even though she's supposed to be super cool. What kind of mother gives her son five across the eyes for not wanting to ride a roller-coaster? I threw up all over the back seat of the car when I was a kid after riding the spinning tea cup ride and very little was said about that.In short it's just not a very engaging movie, it has a couple of interesting moments but they are few and far between.
bsc1012 When I saw the preview for this movie, I didn't expect it to be much. I thought it would be just another lame hitchhiker movie. But as soon as I started watching, I couldn't stop. The scenes with Alan's inner self were hilarious! Jonathan Jackson did such a great job in this movie. He took every line and perfected it. It was a funny/sad/freaky movie to sum it up. George Staub freaked me out completely. As soon as the older Alan began talking in the end, I began crying. When Alan's mom died, I had to get the tissues out! Between that sad music and Alan's high pitched voice saying "Mom?" I couldn't help but sob. The last few scenes with older Alan riding the Bullet made me cry even more! "Fun is fun, and done is done. Nobody lives forever, but we all shine on." Beautiful script, beautiful movie. 10/10. Very well played. I hope to see the actors and actresses again in more movies! Brilliant!