Tribeca Festival 2023 Review: “He Went That Way” – A Slow Moving Road Trip!
He Went That Way starring Jacob Elordi and Zachary Quinto follow two unlikely characters who meet on the road when Jim (Quinto) picks up Bobby (Elordi) at a truck stop on Route 66 in 1964. As the story develops the audience discovers Bobby’s violent and murderous past juxaposed with Jim’s own story that follows his destination with his chimp Spanky. Not even a cute and innocent animal like Spanky could save this disjointed journey.
He Went That Way unnecessary serious tone feels off putting when given a plot with an obvious ability to be thrilling and comedic. A serial killer, an animal handler, and his sweater wearing chimp take on Route 66 with actors Elordi and Quinto. The films writers somehow decided to abandon any fun or suspense in this setup to give its audience a tonally inconsistent screenplay that couldn’t hold up any of its quirks or drama one way or the other.
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The characters are written with virtually no chemistry. The audience never gets the feeling that these two are unlikely acquaintances that form any type of substantial bond. Quinto utters a line near the end of the film that goes like “we have been through so much,” only to make it stick out more that this duo has not made any lasting memories or bonded in any way to make this line evident. Elordi’s character strives to be a mix of terrifying yet unknowingly comedic but the writers never stick the landing while Quinto’s usually quirky and enjoyable persona never gets to shine through even a little bit.
For a road trip movie it only had small interactions with other characters that never played into any weight between the two main characters and their relationship. It seems the weight of the film was placed on the chemistry of the actors and characters in the broader scope of the film and the movie struggled to capture this. Unfortunately a film with potential like this never got to see the light of day.
‘He Went That Way’ Rating – 1.5/5
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