My buddy Gibson texted me one evening around 11 and said “hey man, you need to watch this movie I just finished called Rudderless, It’s on Netflix, I think you’d enjoy it.” I always appreciate when people actually take the time to recommend me a film, it’s definitely few and far between these days. But Mr. Gibson was right, I did really enjoy this movie on many levels. And I was left inspired, and wowed. Inspired because of how the story is presented and the make up of the story just left me in shock. I really don’t want to ruin anything about it, so this may be a difficult one to talk about why it inspired me. But I’ll do my best to do so.
Rudderless is a Drama, Comedy, Music film. It is about a grieving father in a downward spiral stumbles across a box of his recently deceased son’s demo tapes and lyrics. Shocked by the discovery of this unknown talent, he forms a band in the hope of finding some catharsis.
Rudderless is directed and co-written by William H. Macy, in his feature length directorial debut. Macy is best known for his roles in Somewhere In Time (1980), Benny & Joon (1993), Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995), Murder In The First (1995), Fargo (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Air Force One (1997), Pleasantville (1998), Magnolia (1999), Jurassic Park III (2001), Door to Door (2002), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Room (2015), and Shameless (2011-2016). He is a wonderful actor, and he just always seems very genuine. He has a interesting eye for detail, although parts felt a little weird, especially in the editing, but thats something I only noticed after watching it a few times, if I didn’t point it out, you probably wouldn’t notice. But there was a scene where the main character was playing a song, but he wasn’t strumming the guitar… a small nitpick in a overall great movie.
The script was also written by Casey Twenter and Jeff Robison, they also wrote The Jogger (2013) and The scent of a woman (2016). The script and the idea of this movie was very well made and well written. It was grounded in reality, but it was also just well done. The elements of comedy, and one liners were also well done too.
Before I get into the cast, and everything along those lines. I’m putting the soundtrack praise up here first. The music is half the reason to watch the movie, every piece of music is amazing. I love every song in this movie, even some of the more obscure ones. The band in the movie just did a phenomenal job, and I would definitely listen to their music if it was a real band. It was all just lovely, and I’m glad that I was able to download a couple of the songs from the soundtrack off TIDAL, and I’ve shared it with a couple people and shared the movie with them. They’ve all seemed to like it.
The film stars Billy Cruddup, who is always wonderful in anything he does. His other roles consist of Sleepers (1996), Almost Famous (2000), Big Fish (2003), Mission Impossible III (2006), Public Enemies (2009), Watchmen (2009), Eat Pray Love (2010), and Spotlight (2015). Seeing the arc that he went through being this major hot shot architect, to hitting rock bottom and slowly building himself back up was almost crazy to see. He did it so well, and so masterful. I think I gain some inspiration here, sometimes you feel like you hit rock bottom and you have to kind of regain yourself and get yourself back on an even playing field, where you were before. You live to inspire and help someone else, who you don’t want to see go down the same slippery slope as they did. I seem to do this a lot, even when I’m not at rock bottom, I’ll do my best to keep people focused and away from the cliff. Selena Gomez also makes an appearance in this movie, she’s probably the weakest of the cast, and doesn’t add much to it. Her other roles consist of Horton Hears a Who! (2008), Hotel Transylvania (2012), Spring Breakers (2012), Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), The Big Short (2015) – I thought this movie wasn’t good at all., The Fundamentals Of Caring (2016) – which was probably her best role as she was able to really stretch her acting skill that I didn’t think she had. and finally she was in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016). Lastly, one of my favourite actors who was taken too soon is in this movie. His name was Anton Yelchin, he passed away in a freak accident in July at the age of 27. I always loved his acting, and I’ve gone out of my way to watch movies that he was in because I love him and his acting so much. His other films consist of Along Came A Spider (2001), Fierce People (2005), Alpha Dog (2006), Charlie Barlett (2007), Middle of Nowhere (2008), Terminator Salvation (2009), Star Trek (2009), Like Crazy (2011), The Beaver (2011), Fright Night (2011), Odd Thomas (2013), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Green Room (2015), and Star Trek Beyond (2016). He was just a lovely actor, I always said that he would be a future Academy Award winner, he was so good, and just a master of his craft. His portrayal of Quentin was probably my favourite role he did, when he passed away, the first film I watched was Rudderless. This was my favourite movie he did.
I really don’t want to ruin any parts of the movie, but go in knowing that this movie isn’t the most happy movie on earth, its definitely a depressing ride, but the payoff and the music and the acting definitely make it worth watching.
This has been one of my favourite movies ever since Gibson introduced me to it, I go for the great story, but I stay for the lovely music. You’ll be inspired in many ways, but you’ll be floating because of the music.
I give Rudderless a 4/5.
Until Next Time, Stay Inspired!
-Andrew