Detour *** (2016, Tye Sheridan, Emory Cohen, Bel Powley, Stephen Moyer, John Lynch) – Movie Review

Detour is stylish and intriguing, smartly shot, and Tye Sheridan and co do a good job with the acting. But it never gets beyond interesting because it is way too self-conscious, emotionally chilly and tricksy as story telling. Nevertheless, it is a pleasurable hour and a half for neo noir American thriller fans.

British writer-director Christopher Smith’s well set-up 2016 neo noir American thriller is stylish and intriguing. There’s a strong premise, good characters, the film is smartly shot and well-cast Tye Sheridan, Emory Cohen, Bel Powley, Stephen Moyer, John Lynch and co do a good job with the acting.

But it never gets much beyond the interesting category because it is way too self-conscious, emotionally chilly and tricksy as story telling, and thus fails to involve the audience fully with the story or engage with the characters. I get that you want to be clever, but, please, never, never stray into clever, clever.

Nevertheless, the film has a certain something, well, several certain somethings – the set-up, the characters, the actors, the cinematography (by Christopher Ross) – to recommend it, and makes for a good, pleasurable hour and a half for neo noir American thriller fans.