Employing a split structure used so effectively in films like Sliding Doors and Krzysztof Kieślowski's Blind Chance, Detour takes viewers on a wild ride, showing both outcomes when a mysterious, dangerous couple shows up at Harper's doorstep.
Tye Sheridan (Mud, X-Men: Apocalypse) plays Harper, a vengeful student who really, really hates his stepdad. Beyond the typical resentment, Harper thinks Dad #2 (Stephen Moyer, True Blood) might have had something to do with his mom's mysterious car crash. So he enlists the ultra-violent Johnny (Emory Cohen, Brooklyn) and his stripper girlfriend Cherry (Bel Powley, The Diary of a Teenage Girl) to kill Dear Old Dad.
But will Harper actually go through with it? And if he doesn't, what becomes of him? Audiences can find out when Detour opens in limited release and VOD on January 20.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
