Movie Review: 10mph

The premise: A couple of guys decide to quit their soul deadening day jobs and cross the US by Segway. That’s right, Segway, one of those stand-up scooter things that were supposed to revolutionize transportation. They pull together their people and off they go, from Seattle to Boston, with a final hurrah at the Segway headquarters. On the way they meet interesting people, score a couple of sponsors, have wacky adventures, etc. You know the drill.

This reviewer’s point of view:

1. I’m a huge fan of road trips and road trip movies.
2. I love that technology has made it possible for anyone to make a movie.
3. Slow travel is an excellent philosophy.

The problem: Sure, everyone should quit their job and follow their artistic vision, do it today! But I didn’t find this particular crew sympathetic or engaging enough to care about their journey. We get footage of them messing with the Segway in the driveway of the sunny McMansion suburb where they live. We get footage of them and their gear – Mac laptops, camera equipment, a Jeep SUV pulling a trailer stuffed with sponsor swag – interspersed with footage of them complaining about their lack of resources. We get a lot of footage of them driving, rolling on the Segway, eating, sleeping, complaining, interspersed with not enough footage of the people they met along the way. I never care if they meet their goal, I never believe their worries, and I never see them as more than yet another group of friends on a road trip. They’re just not that interesting.

An imaginary scenario: You’re at the office and you’re bored. You’re shooting the breeze with your work buddy over crappy office coffee. Maybe you went to see The Motorcycle Diaries the night before and you’re jonesing for that gap year vibe. “Dude,” you say, “We should just do it. We’re not even 30 yet. I minored in film, we have the technology, and documentaries are all the rage. We’ll do a road trip… but it needs a hook if we’re going to get anywhere… we’ll do it on a Segway! Oh, and we need a girl… my sister just graduated, she’s not doing anything right now, and she’s a totally cool traveler… my buddy is in marketing, I bet he can get us hooked up…” It’s not fair to the crew to portray them this way, but it’s totally how I imagine this movie coming to life.

What could fix this film: I think the trip took about three months – this means there are probably hundreds of hours of footage. There’s some good stuff in the movie – there’s a funny mishap, some interesting locals talking about their work, and some awfully nice open road stuff. Someone’s got a good eye and clearly, people liked them enough to open up and talk or to invite them homes. I suspect vanity got in the way, that and the desire to create some kind of believable conflict where there just isn’t any. I’m okay with the self-involved bits about following your dreams (within limits), but I’d like to have seen more of the interactions that slow travel creates, more footage of the Americans they met along the way. I’d like to send the 10 mph crew back to the editing room with someone who wasn’t on the trip, someone who has the perspective to see what’s interesting to people who weren’t on the journey. I’ll bet there’s some worthwhile footage on the virtual editing room floor that should have made the cut but was thrown over in favor of less interesting but more ego-satisfying film. “Dude, remember when we met Michael Moore? That was awesome.” Yawn.

There are also some weird meta issues – this isn’t a road trip movie, it’s a movie about making a movie about a road trip, you know what I mean? There’s too much distance between the viewer and the story. It’s a little presumptuous to release a “making of” before the movie is even made.

The conclusion: Watching this movie feels like being the third wheel while your buddies talk about the trip you missed. “Remember that one time…” they say, but you weren’t there. If the story is good or the photos are compelling, you’re interested enough to tag along. If they’re not, you say, “Hey, guys, this is fun but I got an early day tomorrow…” I fell firmly in the “I gotta hit the hay” camp.

It’s not bad for a first shot and there are some amusing parts, but not enough to make me recommend it.

Related:

• Road Trip with comments about The Motorcycle Diaries
• Last Stop for Paul
• 10mph official website
• 10mph on Ruthless Reviews (ouch)

Unrelated and shamelessly self promoting, just like 10mph:

• Send me to Martinique, k?

[tags]10mph, Segway movie[/tags]