Gus Van Sant directed Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, a serio comedy, based upon the memoir of the same name by John Callahan, a recently paralyzed alcoholic who finds passion for drawing off-color newspaper cartoons.
Grade: B
The cast includes Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, and Jack Black.
The film had its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Fest, and was released on July 14 by Amazon Studios.
In the first scene, alcoholic quadriplegic cartoonist John Callahan is honored for his work, leading to a flashback, in which he recalls the events that led him up to this moment.
On the morning before his accident, John wakes up still drunk and hurries to purchase more alcohol. That evening, he meets Dexter at a party in Long Beach. They get increasingly drunk, and later sneak into an amusement park and go to a strip club.
Dexter insists on driving, but he falls asleep at the wheel and runs into electrical pole at high speed, causing severe injury to John, who was also asleep.
At the hospital, upon learning that he is a quadriplegic, John comes meets several apathetic medical personnel, including medical students
Finally, he connects with Swedish physical therapist Annu, and tells Annu that he is desperate to not be paralyzed for life, alternatively praying to God and making pacts with the devil.
One night he and a fellow patient go out in their wheelchairs and, on their return to the rehabilitation center, they narrowly miss getting hit by a train.
Given up for adoption when he was a child, he now is eager to track down his birth mother, but Oregon law forbids him from reading a file named Maggie Lynch, leaving John distraught.
John suffers other upsetting events as well. When his electric wheelchair breaks down, he is denied help by the Disability Resource Center as they have had cutbacks, leaving him unable to get around without help.
This leads to an epiphany through a vision of his birth mother, and decision to quit drinking. He is able to get sober with help from his Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) sponsor, Donnie.
At the AA meetings, John learns to be transparent and not to play the victim.
As he proceeds through the 12 Steps of AA, John is inspired to become a cartoonist. He builds a new life and earns money by drawing off-color cartoons for magazines and newspapers. Later, John runs into Annu, who now is a flight attendant, and they fall in love.
At AA, John works through his abandonment issues and self-destructive behavior. Just as he reaches the 12th step, Donnie dies of AIDS.
John accepts the award that was shown at the beginning of the film.
Initially, Robin Williams (who died four years before the film’s release) had optioned the book and asked Gus Van Sant (who had directed him in his Oscar winning role in Good Will Huntting) to adapt it.
While commendable for avoiding cliches of the biopic genre, the film is too sentimental in its inspirational, life-affirming message of a triumphant rec0very.
Cast
Joaquin Phoenix as John Callahan
Ethan Michael Mora as Young John Callahan
Jonah Hill as Donnie Green
Rooney Mara as Annu
Jack Black as Dexter
Mark Webber as Mike
Udo Kier as Hans
Kim Gordon as Corky
Beth Ditto as Reba
Carrie Brownstein as Suzanne
Heather Matarazzo as Shannon
Tony Greenhand as Tim
Olivia Hamilton as Nurse Lily
Angelique Rivera as Terry Alvarado
Ronnie Adrian as Martingale
Rebecca Rittenhouse as Bonnie
Ron Perkins as Morton Kimble
Rebecca Field as Margie Bighew
Emilio Rivera as Jesus Alvarado
Sunny Suljic as Skateboarder #2
Mireille Enos as Maggie Lynch
Nick Rutherford as Drinker
Betsy Sodaro as Powell’s Information Person
