Independent documentaries are growing in number. Some are better than others. This one, about a divorced guy's attempt to reconnect with his teenage kids through a grueling 17-day road trip from Maryland to California and back, is better than any independent ones I have seen lately. Most of us sat through family roads trips, though maybe not ones that went all the way across the country. I can remember being bored in the back seat of my dad's station wagon as well driving to see relatives I hadn't seen in years. I'd rather have been chasing girls. But there is a method to the madness of these trips. At some point, something memorable did occur. Something that bonded my siblings and me in a way that we look back now and laugh. It's these moments that we will take with us to our graves that make us who we are. Anyways, this documentary made me recall my own family road trips and why we took them. While it drags on in places and includes too much footage of certain aspects - enough with so many highway shots! - I understand them better now. I might not put my future kids through such hell, but who knows, one day I just might.
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