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Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This tale of two Korean War Vets and their return home to Indianapolis is apparently supposed to be a harsh critique of mainstream American life in the 1950s. As the two young men try to find a deeper meaning to life and to do what makes them truly happy, they are constantly confronted by the heavy hand of conformity. They want to be unique individuals, but everywhere they turn, they are pressured to be "normal", to not date Jewish girls, to join a Protestant church, to take a desk job with a respectable business.The problem with this movie it that it greatly overplays its hand. The church figures, anti-Communist activists, and stereotypical Midwestern parents that it so harshly criticizes are unbelievable caricatures. The result is that instead of successfully nailing its intended targets, the film plays out almost like a right-wing parody of a left-wing attack on Middle America. It therefore fails mechanically. However, strictly as a piece of entertainment, it certainly has its moments. And the anti-conformity message, which I agree with, isn't completely ruined by the overdone writing and acting. Bottom line: the movie doesn't work, but you may still find watching it an okay way to spend an hour and a half.

A young man (played by Jeremy Davis) is returning home from the Korean war to the parents he joined the war to escape from. Along the way, he meets a happy-go-lucky extrovert (played by Ben Affleck at what seemed to be his sexual peak) co-soldier with whom he unwittingly becomes friends with. This is cool for him, since he now has a friend he can run away to whenever things at home become too hectic. With Gunner (Affleck), Sonny finds a new lease on life when he is introduced to a different side of life whereby he doesn't have to masturbate in his bedroom hoping that his parents can't hear him, or sneak a childhood friend into the house for missionary sex. Tagging along with Gunner, he meets the stunning Gail (played with Va-VA-Voom by Rose McGowan) the cousin of Gunner sex-goddess girlfriend (played by the equally stunning Rachel Weisz Pre-Oscar), add an anti-Semitic mother who is sexually attracted to her own son (Gunner's mum), a strictly religious and stern mother (Sonny's mum), weird pops (Sonny's dad) and a priest into the mix and you're sure to be going all the way! Ben Affleck's sexuality and performance in this film rivals that of Brad Pitt's in Thelma and Louise but this film was so underrated that nobody would have noticed this. Nevertheless, when you see him up on that screen flirting with Weisz's character, things seem to get hot all of a sudden.

Is there really a need to re-examine the seemingly worn-out subject of the plain, skinny guy looking for his heart's desire while his hunky jock buddy gets all the girls with little effort? Yes indeed, and Mark Pellington's "Going All the Way" takes a harder look at just that theme while adding a little humor and dark pathos to the mix.Based on the novel by Dan Wakefield (who also wrote the screenplay), this film hopes to show another side of the familiar topic of very different male friends who emotionally lean on each other through the trials of dating, this time set in post-Korean War middle America. Servicemen "Sonny" (Jeremy Davies) and "Gunner" (Ben Affleck) had gone to the same high school but haven't seen each other in quite a while when they meet on a train returning to their native Indianapolis. Sonny is the soft-spoken, non-athletic ex-photographer who did not see action, while Gunner is the handsome, ex-all-around-jock ladies man who served in Korea. Gunner has returned a changed man after his contact with Zen Buddhism (!), which has made him rethink his vacuous high school and college years and wants more out of life, partly explaining why he befriends the likes of Sonny, who he wouldn't have paid much attention to in the old days.The root cause perhaps of their emotional differences is that Gunner, besides having the typical charmed life seen in other films of this genre, has a very hot, free-spirited, with-it but bigoted mother, Nina (Leslie Ann Warren), whereas Sonny's parents (Jill Clayburgh and John Lordan) are rather plain, unexciting, very religious and controlling. Back home, the guys have fairly sophisticated personal conversations at bars, and Sonny even teaches Gunner about photography, something that interests the latter because he has some artistic spirit to express. They soon become fast friends.After a while, Gunner begins to question his sex-based relationship with ex-high school sweetheart DeeDee, who wants to get married because she is already 23 years old, after he meets the intellectually stimulating and physically delicious Marty (Rachel Weisz), who is a Jewish (gasp!) art student who inspires Gunner to dabble in abstract painting. Meanwhile, Sonny has gone back to his old sweetheart, the aptly named Buddy (Amy Locane), with whom he has sex--in his religious parents' house, no less!--but for whom he has little passion; it is a comfortable relationship of convenience that Buddy wishes could be more but who doesn't press him on it. However, when Sonny ends up meeting Marty's gorgeous, sensuous friend Gail (Rose McGowan) and is convinced she is "the one," he is exceptionally funny and charming, mostly due to excessive liquor, but has trouble "performing" when they get down to business. The troubled feelings caused by this setback, combined with Gunner's impending trip to New York City to follow after Marty and to start a new life there, sends the already rather emotionally fragile/unstable Sonny into a depression, causing a chain of events that the two will not soon forget.Sure, the basic premise of the film is a familiar one, but the performances and production values are what kept my attention. Davies' rather odd acting style adds an effective extra layer of pathos to the troubled Sonny, and Affleck is quite on the mark (despite a couple of distractingly anachronistic mannerisms) for what we are looking for in a smooth and handsome Gunner type. Clayburgh is completely believable as Sonny's over-the-top-sweet but covertly manipulative mother; however, I would have liked to see more of Warren, whose scene-stealing Nina was a great mix of sex appeal and shocking ignorance. Filmed in Indiana, the movie has nice outdoor scenes, unobtrusive sets (although the abstract painting at the museum is fabulous) and a fun score that add to the overall effect, with the exception of the opening tune which actually came out three years after the setting of this movie! "Going All the Way" is no 10-star film, to be sure, but the earnest efforts of cast and crew come through sufficiently that it is worth your while to give it a look. This is a character-driven film that asks you to open your heart and, although set in the 1950s, examines one aspect of the human condition that we can relate to even today.

This is a great movie. Brilliantly acted, especially by Jeremy Davies, but also ably supported by Ben Affleck, it is sometimes very painful to watch and one of the very rare examples of a movie about post-adolescent angst that really works. Very moving, and the director as well as Davies ( the weedy guy in Saving Private Ryan) deserve to be very big.