Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot
Gus Van Sant (Milk) directs fellow Academy Award nominees Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Rooney Mara (Carol) in this uplifting biopic on Portlandian artist John Callahan.
"John Callahan has a lust for life, a knack for off-colour jokes, and a drinking problem. When an all-night bender ends in a catastrophic car accident, John wakes up to the reality of being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In his journey back from rock bottom, his honesty and wicked sense of humour turn out to be his saving grace, as he makes friends with an oddball AA group, finds that love is not beyond his reach, and develops a talent for drawing irreverent and sometimes shocking cartoons." (Sundance Film Festival)
- Director:
- Gus Van Sant ('Elephant', 'Good Will Hunting', 'Milk')
- Writer:
- Gus Van Sant
- Cast:
- Joaquin PhoenixJonah HillRooney MaraJack BlackBeth DittoOlivia HamiltonUdo KierKim Gordon
Reviews & comments
Flicks, Luke Buckmaster
flicksThe crowning achievement of director Gus Van Sant’s biopic of the late American cartoonist and wheelchair user John Callahan, based on his memoir of the same name, is the nuanced exploration of a tough theme: the difference between forgiving yourself and not feeling sorry for yourself.
Flicks, Adam Fresco
flicksCharting the late John Callahan’s rocky road from alcoholism, through the car crash that left him a quadriplegic, to taking the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and gaining notoriety for his frank and darkly humorous cartoons, director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting and Milk) employs a no-frills, naturalistic style, in a warts and all, decidedly unheroic portrait of a man battling his demons on the way to recovery.
From bad to good...
Some great actors rolled into a decent movie. Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic in these "based on true life" stories. He's fantastic everywhere he goes. The humour amongst the darkness showed there was light at the end of the tunnel. I highly recommend this for something against the norm, you'll leave laughing.
Don't take life for granted
Very interesting quite moving also funny in an ironic sense. It shows the strength of individuals who can from the depths of disappear caused mainly by self abuse, the human spirit can rise over all challenges. Some may find a bit slow (my wife was one)….but the mix of humour keeps it moving a long.
Slightly low key but engaging - SPOILERS ALERT
Our hero is a bit of a drunken everyman whose life gets crappier when a (drunken) car crash leaves him a paraplegic. We then take a slightly quirky but fairly standard ride-along to his AA meetings and new life in which we wish him well as he slowly gets his sh!t together through the medium of cartooning - these are good too in an edgy Far Side kind of way....
Mawkishness-free tale from Van Sant hits the right notes...
Movies with characters who are disabled usually scream 'Oscar-Click-bait' - for all the wrong reasons.but in this finely nuanced biography of cartoonist John Callaghan, Joaquin Phoenix and a career-best from perennial sideman Jonah Hill illuminate this story with absolute understatement and distinction. Not too bitter, non too sweet, the realistically...
Vulture
pressPhoenix tends to get lost in his parts, which can lead him (along with his films) astray. But when his high-wire emotional arc suits the movie, there are few who can touch him.
The Telegraph
pressHill is good, finding a sincere wavelength for his role which doesn't push Donnie at us too mockingly: he's this film's equivalent of Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting.
Los Angeles Times
pressVan Sant pays tribute to the restorative power of faith, discipline and perseverance, but he also resists the temptation to follow these themes into an overly pat or complacent groove.
Hollywood Reporter
pressThis unwieldy but consistently enjoyable portrait of paraplegic local hero John Callahan is notable for its generosity of spirit and gentleness.
Collider
pressDespite strong performances from Phoenix and Hill, Don't Worry can't out run its deluge of clichés.
Flicks, Luke Buckmaster
flicksThe crowning achievement of director Gus Van Sant’s biopic of the late American cartoonist and wheelchair user John Callahan, based on his memoir of the same name, is the nuanced exploration of a tough theme: the difference between forgiving yourself and not feeling sorry for yourself.
Flicks, Adam Fresco
flicksCharting the late John Callahan’s rocky road from alcoholism, through the car crash that left him a quadriplegic, to taking the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and gaining notoriety for his frank and darkly humorous cartoons, director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting and Milk) employs a no-frills, naturalistic style, in a warts and all, decidedly unheroic portrait of a man battling his demons on the way to recovery.
Vulture
pressPhoenix tends to get lost in his parts, which can lead him (along with his films) astray. But when his high-wire emotional arc suits the movie, there are few who can touch him.
The Telegraph
pressHill is good, finding a sincere wavelength for his role which doesn't push Donnie at us too mockingly: he's this film's equivalent of Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting.
Los Angeles Times
pressVan Sant pays tribute to the restorative power of faith, discipline and perseverance, but he also resists the temptation to follow these themes into an overly pat or complacent groove.
Hollywood Reporter
pressThis unwieldy but consistently enjoyable portrait of paraplegic local hero John Callahan is notable for its generosity of spirit and gentleness.
Collider
pressDespite strong performances from Phoenix and Hill, Don't Worry can't out run its deluge of clichés.
From bad to good...
Some great actors rolled into a decent movie. Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic in these "based on true life" stories. He's fantastic everywhere he goes. The humour amongst the darkness showed there was light at the end of the tunnel. I highly recommend this for something against the norm, you'll leave laughing.
Don't take life for granted
Very interesting quite moving also funny in an ironic sense. It shows the strength of individuals who can from the depths of disappear caused mainly by self abuse, the human spirit can rise over all challenges. Some may find a bit slow (my wife was one)….but the mix of humour keeps it moving a long.
Slightly low key but engaging - SPOILERS ALERT
Our hero is a bit of a drunken everyman whose life gets crappier when a (drunken) car crash leaves him a paraplegic. We then take a slightly quirky but fairly standard ride-along to his AA meetings and new life in which we wish him well as he slowly gets his sh!t together through the medium of cartooning - these are good too in an edgy Far Side kind of...
Mawkishness-free tale from Van Sant hits the right notes...
Movies with characters who are disabled usually scream 'Oscar-Click-bait' - for all the wrong reasons.but in this finely nuanced biography of cartoonist John Callaghan, Joaquin Phoenix and a career-best from perennial sideman Jonah Hill illuminate this story with absolute understatement and distinction. Not too bitter, non too sweet, the realistically...
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