Joyride film review: a predictable, but still pleasant, country drive

Via a mix of prolific work and genuinely awe-inspiring emotional dexterity, Olivia Colman has spent the previous 20 years steadily constructing herself into one in every of These Actors, those you’ll watch it doesn’t matter what they’re doing or the place they may flip up. Her expertise is such that her main tasks regularly place her in rivalry for awards this time of 12 months, however she’s additionally such a presence that any Colman efficiency is able to giving one thing exceptional, irrespective of the scale of the movie or the scale of the function. So whereas the Awards Season narrative this 12 months has already framed Colman’s work in Sam Mendes’ Empire Of Gentle (wherein she is predictably compelling) because the clear contender, it’s vital to do not forget that there’s a couple of movie out on the finish of 2022 that includes nice work from one in every of our best stars.

Joyride (choose theaters December 23), the brand new coming-of-age dramedy/highway film from director Emer Reynolds and author Ailbhe Keogan, might not benefit from a marquee director or a significant studio rollout at its again, however the movie’s story of two pissed off individuals looking for their place in a altering world nonetheless resonates due to the performances at its core. It may not break any plot molds, and it doesn’t fairly come collectively as neatly as you’d hope by the tip, however due to Colman’s shining presence, it’s a pleasing journey all the identical.

The movie’s story begins not with Colman, however with Charlie Reid’s Mully, a teenage boy making an attempt to placed on a courageous face after the lack of his mom, regardless of his father’s (Lochlann Ó Mearáin) reasonably icy view of the entire affair. When his dad tries to pocket the cash the regulars on the native pub are elevating for charity in his mom’s identify, Mully lastly snaps, snatches the money, and steals a taxi to flee his father. It’s solely after he’s sped out of city that he realizes the cab already has two occupants: Pleasure (Colman) and her new toddler daughter, who’re on their solution to catch a flight which Pleasure is set to make irrespective of who’s driving the automotive. As Mully tries to resolve what to do about his father and the cash, and Pleasure tries to determine what to do concerning the new life she’s now charged with caring for, the 2 forge an unlikely and tumultuous bond that varieties the movie’s narrative and emotional spine.

That narrative spine signifies that Colman and Reid spend huge swaths of the movie as the one principal gamers within the story, both merely reacting to one another and to the infant within the backseat, or sharing adventures involving every little thing from an area chip stand to an odd, van-driving, beginner musician. For his half, newcomer Reid does a formidable job of maintaining together with his way more well-known, reliably highly effective co-star, giving Mully the requisite chip on his shoulder whereas additionally leaning into the comedic buddy highway film angles right here. There’s a darkness behind his eyes, a weariness, that’s minimize every time with slightly sprint of hope, and it makes him a performer price watching even when the movie round him will get slightly uneven.

That unevenness, which even Colman typically struggles to navigate with all her prodigious expertise, comes right down to a script that wishes to journey that dramedy line throughout to the end, however typically swings so wildly to 1 facet or the opposite of that tightrope that issues get wobbly and even threaten at occasions to slide over the sting. From Mully’s oddly staged musical quantity to the abrupt shifts into darkness that don’t really feel as lightened by journey as the remainder of the movie, Joyride is usually bumpy, however by no means a lot that you simply’re prepared to tug the automotive over and soar out.

That’s largely because of Colman, who pours out her presents for absurd comedy and deep, darkish drama in equal measure on this function, respiratory verisimilitude right into a story that’s at occasions predictable and at different occasions fairly treacly. Typically the most effective measure of an actor is just not how they embody a notably nice function, and even how they elevate a foul movie, however how they fare when given middle-of-the-road materials from which they need to extract the utmost quantity of emotional density and weight. Colman excels at this significantly tough talent, and he or she brings the total drive of that excellence to Joyride, making a strong film that rather more pleasurable.

Within the arms of one other star, Joyride may need remained a strong, fairly nice entry into the world of highway films. In Colman’s arms, it turns into one thing extra, even when it’s typically solely barely extra: an excellent movie anchored by probably the greatest actors within the recreation proper now.