The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)
A sweet, uncomplicated movie. Paul Rudd is solid if a bit restrained (though he has a handful of great lines), but the younger counterpart played by Craig Roberts is really sharp and funny. They way they support and redeem each other is the whole of the movie.
There is an attempt to add some depth, from the straight up mother who overplays her custodial role to a couple of people who get picked up along the road trip, both quirky but neither very convincing in the larger story. They are all add-ons that have little depth. Too bad.
Yes, this is a road movie, with some well used ideas about finding weird Americana along the way to discovering yourself. It's fun, sure, but you'll find enough predictable parts to make you wish someone had take some chances. By the time they get to the highlight (which is a literal low point—you'll see), both of the add-on characters are pushed to extremes that don't resolve well.
I enjoyed the movie in some simple warm way, but don't expect brilliance. I think, in a way, brilliance was not the idea, but something more sincere and heartfelt. Hate to feel like I'm bashing a feel-good movie, but it's really the movie-making and writing, not the sentiments, that are the problem.
