{"id":25014,"date":"2022-07-14T00:44:16","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T07:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=25014"},"modified":"2022-07-14T00:44:16","modified_gmt":"2022-07-14T07:44:16","slug":"dont-make-me-go-isnt-a-satisfying-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=25014","title":{"rendered":"DON\u2019T MAKE ME GO Isn\u2019t a Satisfying Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 110 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Amazon Studios will be available to\nstream on Prime Video Friday, July 15th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While almost all pictures are made with the best of\nintentions, sometimes the final product doesn\u2019t have the desired effect on\nviewers. For this reviewer, the new drama Don\u2019t Make Me Go <\/em>is one such\nexample. It features a pair of charismatic stars and attempts to deal with\nthemes involving family and mortality, while also addressing coming-of-age\nconcerns. There\u2019s a lot here and perhaps this is the reason that the end result\nis so uneven. The film attempts to address so much that it never gels together\nor is resolved in a convincing manner.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Max Park (John Cho) is a single dad caring for his teenage\ndaughter Wally (Mia Isaac). The button-down accountant spends most of his time\nstrictly guiding his child\u2019s life, which is beginning to cause a rift in their\nrelationship. When Max is diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain tumor that\ncould kill him within the year, he quickly makes plans. The dad decides to\nforce Wally to take a road-trip with him across the country. While he insists\nthe reason is to attend a class reunion, what he really wants is to spend more\ntime with his daughter and reunite the teen with her mother (Jen Van Epps) who\nabandoned them years before. He hopes that perhaps she may be able to take over\nas Wally\u2019s future guardian. Oblivious to his goals, his daughter bickers with\nhim during the trip and chooses to focus on her personal\nlife.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concept offers some potential for drama. Cho does manage\nto make his character affable. Of course, this is already a given due to the\nprognosis and inner turmoil, but the actor also manages to sell Max\u2019s\nnonsensical plan to hunt down his ex. And co-star Isaac effectively conveys a\nsense of loyalty to her pop, despite her small rebellious acts. There is plenty\nof opportunity for tension with the two leads stuck in a car on the road, especially\nconsidering it involves confronting the person who abandoned them. Alas, Max\nhides these details from his daughter and from much of the running time, the\nstory avoids dealing with the central issue. Instead, it focuses on Wally\u2019s\nrelationship with a school crush and her attempts to sneak away from dad and\nattend parties with other teens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And the two stars aren\u2019t helped by some forced comedy and\nclunky dialogue. While the odd bits of bickering between the pair is\neffectively delivered, other attempts land with a thud. This includes a\nsequence in which the daughter panics while merging into traffic, as well as\nMax\u2019s confrontation with the old school chum (Jemaine Clement) who wooed his\nold flame from him. These bits are overplayed. And as the tide turns to deal\nwith heartfelt matters, it\u2019s hard not to wince while Max earnestly attempts to\ninspire his daughter with lines like, \u201cYou have a fire inside you, Wally\u2026\u201d and\nother motivational gems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But the biggest problem with the film is its final act. To\nbe blunt, the most important section of the movie doesn\u2019t work and fails to\nresonate emotionally with the viewer. Familiar cinematic tropes are employed,\nincluding climactic outbursts between the lead characters venting their\ngrievances. While the performers are dedicated and do their best, they aren\u2019t\nhelped by the inappropriate song choices used in the background. The tunes\nthemselves are excellent, but the music tempo does not suit the scenes in\nquestion. These and other odd choices towards the close distance the viewer\nfrom the proceedings and make an even more jarring last-minute twist appear all\nthe more contrived and manipulative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This tale of a father and daughter trying to squeeze a\nlifetime of experiences into a single road trip is well-intentioned and\nbenefits to a degree from a likable cast who attempt to carry the film across\nthe finish line. But sadly, the unfocused screenplay has too many problems and\nthe finale is completely fumbled. Alas, those thinking about streaming Don\u2019t\nMake Me Go<\/em> might want to take heed of the title and think twice before\ninvesting their time in this flawed drama. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 110 minutes This feature from Amazon Studios will be available to stream on Prime Video Friday, July 15th. While almost all pictures are made with the best of intentions, sometimes the final product doesn\u2019t have the desired effect on viewers. For this reviewer, the new drama Don\u2019t Make Me Go is one such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,1182,4660,6111,6112,6113,6114,6251,10549,10553,10839,13742,16369],"class_list":["post-25014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-amazon-studios","tag-comedy","tag-dont-make-me-go","tag-dont-make-me-go-film-review","tag-dont-make-me-go-movie-review","tag-dont-make-me-go-review","tag-drama","tag-jemaine-clement","tag-jen-van-epps","tag-john-cho","tag-mia-isaac","tag-prime-video"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}