Ride the Eagle (2021)

Not rated, but there's some language and a phone sex scene.  Also, there's a running gag where it seems like the protagonist is being hunted and stalked by a neighbor.  Some of these scenes get mildly dark and scary, but nothing that most people couldn't handle, except for the language that the guy uses.  The movie is also about mortality and grieving, which isn't a parental advisory thing so much as it is just a thing that some people might not be prepped for.  Oh!  Also, a lot of drugs, but very little of it used.

DIRECTOR:  Trent O'Donnell

I don't know how I can stay ahead of my writing and be ahead of the game one day only to fall behind in 24 hours.  It's what happens when I'm watching two movies in the same day.  Still, I really thought that I wouldn't have to stress on New Year's Eve.  We'll see if I can knock this out.  I'm not even contemplating that I might have time for a second blog tonight.  But still.

Do you know how this movie crossed my path?  The library!  There's some stress when it comes to the library for me.  I'm wired to get things back as quickly as possible.  And do you know how many library movies I rented?  Three!  Three movies!  One of them needs to be back in four days and my wife has no interest in watching it.  (Note:  It's Longlegs.) But it's not like I went looking for Ride the Eagle. I got it entirely because of the cast.  When I saw the cover of this movie, I knew my wife would be excited to watch it.  I mean, I got two dark movies and then this.  Yeah, she was all about this movie.  And I'll tell you what?  While it's going to potentially be one of the more forgettable movies I watched this year, it was flippin' great.  

I mean, it really has indie comedy vibes.  I could drop the name Ride the Eagle in most circles and I can almost guarantee that no one has seen this.  (Also note: This might be on Amazon Prime and there was no reason why I needed to hold the disc from a library.) It has a lot of direct-to-streaming vibes.  But with the case of Ride the Eagle, that might have a charming element that was a bonus.  I'm such a snob.  I tend to dismiss streaming movies pretty quickly.  It's just that we get so many that make little cultural imprint.  Ride the Eagle feels like a passion project that has a lot of Jake Johnson behind it.  I saw that he shared writing credit on this movie and I applaud him.  Jake Johnson, honestly. has yet to disappoint.  I think everybody knew the scale of this movie when they went into pre-production. It was almost written to be on a shoestring budget.  The location is the woods.  Each scene is almost done entirely in isolation.  As a guy who has never directed a feature length film, I guess that this was probably filmed over the course of six weeks.  You had Susan Sarandon film all of her scenes in front of a camcorder with no interaction with other characters.  J.K. Simmons has a really short scene with Jake Johnson and the rest of his dialogue was probably recorded ADR.  D'Arcy Camden's scenes are entirely in one location as a phone call.  Much of her character is through text message.  Really, Jake Johnson talking to a dog is the majority of the film coupled with a couple of scenes with a guy who is in his band. 

And for what it is, it's got some heart to it.  The very notion is a bit beyond the pale, but it stays just this side of plausible for the movie to hold onto emotional vulnerability.  But in terms of dealing with the many facets of mourning, the movie does a fairly solid job of talking about alternative mourning.  I like that mourning doesn't have to look like one thing. If anything, Ride the Eagle's look at morning isn't about missing someone who is lost, but dealing with a life of regret that can't be changed.  For the protagonist, Lief, this could be a Scrooge story.  In terms of the character's background, he's a guy who didn't have a mom which could leave him broken and isolated.  He's isolated, but he's not broken.  If anything, the dude has a healthy disposition towards life. He's offered a sweet cabin in the will, but much of the movie isn't about him trying to win the cabin. Instead, it's someone who is willing to give his dead mother one last chance to be a part of his life.  God, if anything this is a commentary on burgeoning male vulnerability (second time I used "vulnerability" in this blog) and how it should look.  While Honey has plenty to teach him, it's not about a bad man being good.  Instead, it is about sucking the marrow out of life.  It's about enjoying the moment and celebrating life while he has the opportunity.

In no way should this work, but it becomes a lovely romantic comedy even though the characters aren't in the same room together.  Lief and Audrey honestly understand the value of apologies and communication.  One of the challenges that Honey gives Lief is to contact the one that got away.  Now, if this was grumpy ol' me, I think I would have been much more stick-in-the-muddish about the whole thing.  If I received a phone call from an ex and I was still single, I think I would be a huge turd. But that's never part of the narrative.  Instead, Audrey has this healthy outlook to the whole thing.  She knows that Lief didn't have to contact her (even though it is the conceit of the film) and she forgives him quickly.  Now, I don't know what broke them up to begin with.  But that apology, while being a little vague, is some healthy nonsense going on.  He apologizes for not fighting harder for their relationship and that felt like there was some understanding that things fall apart not for one reason, but for a lot of smaller things.  It is weird how quickly they jump to the intimacy thing after forgiving each other, but it is a comedy for adults.  It's part of the story.

But I might be too forgiving of this movie as well.  One of the recurring motifs of the movie is that Lief is getting to know his mom better.  Everyone, Mom included, understands that Honey should have been a better mom to Lief.  But it is a bit off that we never really get a righteous anger.  There's a lot of things that are emotionally charged in Honey's message.  (I really applaud the notion that Honey, from beyond the grave, misreads how Lief is handling all of her little plans.)   Perhaps it's because Lief has no one to bounce ideas off of beyond his use of a cell phone, but I kind of want him to get really angry at least once.  As fun as this whole "Discover Yourself" spirit quest is, it is a far cry from having Honey in his life.  Yeah, other movies have beaten this idea to death.  But I don't want the entire movie to be about that.  Instead, I want this to be simply an element of the way that Lief deals with Honey's death.  THe closest we get about that is J.K. Simmons aggressively mourning a woman that he seems to love, even if he is a bit unhinged.  (Also, as much as I love the joke, Simmons --for comic effect --seems entirely unhinged.  What if he killed Lief?  What a weird twist in the movie that would have been!)

But for a throwaway movie (which seems really disparaging and I don't want to sound like a negative nelly), it is a pretty solid movie.  Yeah, it's made on the cheap.  But just because something is made on the cheap, doesn't mean that it is all that bad. It's got a great cast. It's ethically interesting enough to keep me involved.  And it's funny enough that I want to recommend it to others.  I have nothing to complain about.  This movie was pretty solid.  It'll never be a favorite, but it worked pretty well.

But the title, Ride the Eagle?  Barely tied into the movie.