One For The Road Movie Review

One For The Road is a story about heartbreak, friendship, and love. It takes viewers on an unexpected journey, but a powerful one.

One For The Road is about a young man named Aood who learns that he is dying of cancer. He reaches out to an estranged friend named Boss and asks him to fly out to Thailand and help him with his dying wish – to return items to some of his exes and say goodbye to them. His father died of the same thing and he did not get to say goodbye. Knowing how painful this can be, he wishes to make amends and have a final discussion with the people that mean the most to him. 

As he says goodbye, he deletes the contacts from him cellphone, until he is left with only Boss’ name. This is where the movie takes a bit of a turn, and we learn about why these friends are estranged in the first place. I really enjoyed diving into their past, and it really made the whole movie come together for me.

What Works With One For The Road

This movie starts out quite heartbreaking, and while it does change gears partway through, it remains a movie about heart break itself. This movie is not only about Aood’s past relationships, and his past with Boss, it is also about what he wants to return to Boss, and what that had meant to him. 

The story of these two friends is part of what makes this film so powerful. Their friendship developed because of circumstances that most viewers would never guess — and we do get the full story at the end thanks to flashbacks. There is also quite a twist that worked for me, and filled me with all sorts of emotions. 

One For The Road has some really interesting and unique cinematic sequences. When the camera turns sideways and all around to make some scenes more intense, it really works. There are also a lot of shots that zoom in from above. The creative cinematic approach to this movie kept me intrigued as it went on. 

The soundtrack for this movie is darn near perfect. So many emotional moments are elevated due to the song choice. There is nothing like a good soundtrack to take a movie to the next level, and that is what this one does.

What Doesn’t Work With For The Road

Honestly I have never been a fan of flashbacks in movies unless they have real and true purpose to the story. While the flashbacks in One For The Road work for the most part, Boss’ flashback is very long and took me out of the story of Aood for too long. While I did find my way back to their relationship, it took me a second to get back into that mindset after such a long diversion. 

All that being said, I really did love this twist. The biggest issue with it though is that it almost feels like two totally different movies. It was interesting seeing how Aood and Boss met, but it was too much a story about Prim and not enough about these two friends. 

The only other issue I have with this movie is that it is really long. I understand this is to tell the full story, however, some stuff could have been cut and it still would have been a great movie. I also get why the flashback with Prim is at the end of the film, but I think I would have liked One For The Road better if it took place in order — with the story going from beginning to end, starting with Prim. Even if the full story of the three of them was not completely revealed, it would have been nice to get part of the story at the beginning of the movie.

Overall Thoughts

One For The Road is a little too long and it feels like two totally different movies at one point, however, it all comes together and gives viewers a powerful film about heartbreak, friendship, and love. About halfway through the movie, things change, and the majority of the last forty-five minutes or so are spent in flashbacks. 

I can understand how this would be deterring for some, but even though I didn’t love how it did this, I really enjoyed the overall movie. The last few minutes make the pacing issue more than worth it. Yes, I shed a few tears as well. It is clear that the writer is a very passionate person, and perhaps has pulled from his own experiences to create such a beautiful movie.

About One For The Road

Boss lives a seemingly charmed life as a popular bartender in New York City, with an endless line of female customers after hours. One night, his estranged friend Aood calls from Bangkok with the news that he’s dying and asks Boss to come home. As the two travel down memory lane throughout Thailand, returning items to Aood’s exes, their pasts and reasons for their broken brotherhood are exposed. But Boss doesn’t know the whole story, and when Aood has one last gift to return, it might destroy their relationship forever.

One For The Road played at Fantasia 2022.