A Reunion (2014)

This is a road movie where two somewhat estranged college friends drive from California to Chicago for their 10-year reunion. Individually they both have areas of dissatisfaction in their own lives and uncertainty about what they are to each other. Over the course of the journey they reestablish their bond and being to gain clarity about what they want in their own lives and from each other.

Spoilers: having disconnected with everyone by going to Japan to teach English to five year-olds after college, Michael flies to California to meet up with his college friend Josh and take a road trip to Chicago for their 10 year reunion. They go to Vegas, car-henge, the grand canyon, visit a girl with whom they had a sexual escapade, reminisce, push each other's buttons, reject each other, and start sleeping together. Josh had accepted his lot was to be unhappy in life, feeling he shared a connection with Michael he would never find again. Michael, it turns out, is going to be married to a woman in Japan, and seems to have sought out Josh due to uncertainty with his choices in life.

It's a well-written movie. It's engaging and never especially warm and fuzzy or even romantic. Early conversations resonate with later events, including Michael's description of marriages in Japan. The resolution didn't seem clear, but was satisfying. We see photos in the credits which may be from the past but also from the future--a plane wing which could be Michael returning to Japan after the reunion, and a photo of Josh and Michael with a new tattoo of Route 66 on Josh's shoulder, which might indicate the two are together following the reunion.

Despite the fact that his character (“Michael”) is really quite irritating, Michael Lovan delivers the role really quite skilfully here as he sets off on a road trip with his reluctant friend “Josh” (Josh Watson) for a reunion with college friends they haven’t seen for years. It is clear from the start that there is some baggage here, with the latter man more reserved whilst his floppy-haired companion prattles on relentlessly to the point where an ejector seat might prove an essential at the car hire company. Their meeting with one of their erstwhile friends and her new husband goes particularly badly then a bid of shocking news upsets their apple cart well and truly. Thing is. Can they salvage anything? Is there actually anything worth salvaging? Well the short answer would have to be no, not really. The plot is undercooked right from the start, the nature of their relationship completely lacks context or plausibility and there’s precious little chemistry on offer between two men whom you’d have to reckon would never be each other’s “type” on a desert island. The production can’t have had much of a budget but that’s not really an excuse for the mediocre and uninspiring standard of the dialogue though it might explain why the denouement is rushed, incomplete and certainly not interesting enough to merit “A Reunion II”. Average all round, sorry.