The End of the Tour (2015)

I remember in 1981 when Siskel and Ebert went bananas for My Dinner With Andre. A movie about a dinner conversation! As a 13 year old, I did not know what to think. When I finally caught up with the film, I was bound to be disappointed. I probably wasn't the right age to connect with the film. I need to rewatch the film now that I am in my 40s. I probably will connect with the film a bit more.

Now here comes a film detailing a conversation over a few days between reporter David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) and author David Foster Wallace (Jason Siegel). I've been reading how fascinating the conversation is between these two, and all I could think during the film was that neither of these guys were remotely as interesting as Andre Gregory. Or his dinner companion in My Dinner With Andre, Wallace Shawn.

The early portion of the film is in nearly recent time which establishes that Wallace committed suicide. Then the film goes back to the few days Lipsky spent with him in 1996 on a book tour. We hear repeatedly how amazing the book is. There is no evidence provided in the film of the author's brilliance. There is no evidence of how he ended up so despondent he took his life.

What we have is a guy who lives in Illinois and goes to Minnesota and is fascinated with what snobs would refer to as low culture. But there is no insight provided. So Wallace comes across as a fundamentally decent normal Midwestern guy. I live in Ohio. I have conversations with fundamentally decent normal Midwestern guys on a daily basis. Those conversations would not make for a movie either.

I cannot describe how bored I was watching this film. Nothing happens. Nothing is talked about. The most interesting thing is that they go to a movie at the Mall of America. (The movie is Broken Arrow.) And that's the film. This is the most overrated film of the year. Grade: D+