Ride The Eagle: Film Review

Cast: Jake Johnson, Susan Sarandon, D'Arcy Carden, JK Simmons

Director: Trent O'Donnell

Marketed as a comedy, but probably more appropriate as something of a whimsical curio, Trent O'Donnell's Ride The Eagle feels like a movie made in Covid times, isolated as its main characters are.

Johnson stars as Leif, a bit of a drifter musician whose life is changed when his estranged mother Honey (Sarandon) dies. Sent a video with his mother offering him a conditional inheritance if he completes her to-do list, Leif begins to go through the list, and reconnect with his past and his mixed feelings about his mother and their time together.

There is a gentle laid back vibe to Ride The Eagle, with its Californian roads and countryside pushing through the opening sequences - with a middle of the road OST as well and a back and forth with a former flame, it's really not in any rush to go anywhere, despite Johnson's charm as Leif.

In truth, Ride The Eagle feels like a play in many ways, albeit one that's nowhere near as humourous as its marketing would suggest. 

Despite its brevity, the story drags, and there's no meat on these dramatic bones, as Leif shambles from one interaction to the next.

A veritable cameo from JK Simmons, all foulmouthed and angry, proves fruitful and gives the film the edge that it needs as it pushes the humour into a form of life; Sarandon has warmth, but just feels like she's reading scenes to a camera, constrained as she is by the narrative requirements. It's ironic the film pushes so much for connection when there's so little of it actually bursting through the screen.

Ultimately, Ride The Eagle is affable enough, but it's certainly not keen to do anything more than it really sets out to do so. It may aim for whimsy and also for humour, but it barely touches the mark on both.