I gotta come clean: I think TWO FOR THE ROAD is overrated. This is a movie I wish I liked but cannot stand. About the only interesting thing in it is the nonlinear story structure. The way they segue through time using the loosest connections was very interesting and I would love to see it used in a movie with a better story.
The thing is, I do not care about any of these characters. Neither Finney nor Hepburn's characters are terribly interesting on their own, and while they share sexual chemistry onscreen (and apparently did off as well), I do not buy for a second that the two ever really love one another or that there is anything in their relationship worth salvaging. Not in the least. And as a result, I don't care if they stay together or split up. They seem like two people who banged on a beach then got married on impulse-- and remain that way! I never sensed a deeper connection between them other than "we make each other laugh every now and then when we aren't cheating on one another!"
Much has been made of Hepburn's performance, and much wailing and gnashing of teeth have there been over her getting a nomination for the horror-thriller WAIT UNTIL DARK instead. My own indifference to award shows aside, give me Hepburn in WAIT UNTIL DARK over this any day. Even without her expert portrayal of blindness, there she played a far more compelling character trying to overcome her own psychological insecurities in addition to mortal peril.
Here, while she shows talent in playing a sometimes unlikable character (this performance in its brittle moments shows what route she might have taken had she taken up the offer to play Nurse Ratched in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST), the character is so uninteresting and wishy-washy that I'm left absolutely unaffected. I don't care if she's playing a woman over ten years of her life and I don't care if it's different from the classy gamines she normally played-- when I don't care about the character, the best performance in the world is all for nothing.
So if we don't have interesting characters or a believable, compelling relationship between them, what do we have? A movie peopled by obnoxious characters that drags on far longer than its two hour runtime, with only pretty scenery, a solid Mancini score, and cool 1960s fashions to recommend it.
EDIT: Rewatched this recently in the hopes of liking it more. I ended up liking it less. I'm now convinced Mark Wallace is a narcissist and that the "happy" ending is more a case of putting the inevitable divorce off for another ten years rather than any triumph of devoted love.
The thing is, I do not care about any of these characters. Neither Finney nor Hepburn's characters are terribly interesting on their own, and while they share sexual chemistry onscreen (and apparently did off as well), I do not buy for a second that the two ever really love one another or that there is anything in their relationship worth salvaging. Not in the least. And as a result, I don't care if they stay together or split up. They seem like two people who banged on a beach then got married on impulse-- and remain that way! I never sensed a deeper connection between them other than "we make each other laugh every now and then when we aren't cheating on one another!"
Much has been made of Hepburn's performance, and much wailing and gnashing of teeth have there been over her getting a nomination for the horror-thriller WAIT UNTIL DARK instead. My own indifference to award shows aside, give me Hepburn in WAIT UNTIL DARK over this any day. Even without her expert portrayal of blindness, there she played a far more compelling character trying to overcome her own psychological insecurities in addition to mortal peril.
Here, while she shows talent in playing a sometimes unlikable character (this performance in its brittle moments shows what route she might have taken had she taken up the offer to play Nurse Ratched in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST), the character is so uninteresting and wishy-washy that I'm left absolutely unaffected. I don't care if she's playing a woman over ten years of her life and I don't care if it's different from the classy gamines she normally played-- when I don't care about the character, the best performance in the world is all for nothing.
So if we don't have interesting characters or a believable, compelling relationship between them, what do we have? A movie peopled by obnoxious characters that drags on far longer than its two hour runtime, with only pretty scenery, a solid Mancini score, and cool 1960s fashions to recommend it.
EDIT: Rewatched this recently in the hopes of liking it more. I ended up liking it less. I'm now convinced Mark Wallace is a narcissist and that the "happy" ending is more a case of putting the inevitable divorce off for another ten years rather than any triumph of devoted love.