Surface appearances point to a basically nice guy, leaving the viewer to spend a good chunk of Lamb questioning the intentions of a titular 47-year-old (played by writer-director Ross Partridge) who talks an out-of-favor pre-teen (Oona Laurence) who asks to bum a cigarette into accompanying him on a road trip to his Rocky Mountain cabin. Once all red flags prove to be unfounded, Lamb’s grief-based pilgrimage to inner goodness falters only when choosing to follow a pathos-bricked path. The material concerning the girl’s miserable family life — the stuff stacks of teledramas are made of — wastes the talents of Lindsay Pulsipher (neglectful mother) and Scoot McNairy (neglectful mother’s boyfriend). (It doesn’t help that cinematographer Nathan M. Miller’s frames reflect more grit than grist.) It’s the unlikely duo’s interrelationship and the high-minded rapport they strike that helps to stifle the occasional bouts of road rage inherent in this journey. (2015) — Scott Marks
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