![]() Moore and David Loughery, “End of the Road” starts out like a maudlin Hallmark movie, then becomes a race-relations-focused spin on 1966 minor camp classic “Hot Rods to Hell,” in which Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain’s squeaky-clean clan were menaced cross-country by psychotic delinquents. Her attempt to return the money is soon thwarted by a whole trailer-park-full of inbreds who look like “The Hills Have Eyes Goes to Burning Man.” More complications and several squealing car chases also ensue. This is somehow immediately known to the Bad Guys, who blow up Brenda’s cell with threatening messages, then kidnap a family member as collateral. Then it turns out that Reggie, always a wellspring of impulsive bad ideas, has nabbed the duffel bag of cash that the dead man had stolen. But late-arriving Captain Hammers (Beau Bridges) of the Arizona State Troopers is not happy that they’ve left the scene. The assailant escapes, and ER nurse Brenda cannot save a mortally wounded man (Jesse Luken) we recognize as having absconded with drug-cartel money in an earlier scene.Īfter being interviewed by local police, Brenda and company gladly hit the road again the next morning. They give pursuit, briefly terrorizing the Freemans along a lonely desert road.Īt a motel that night, the family unwinds from the close shave with “mean, stupid white boys” - until they hear sounds of violent struggle, then a gunshot in the room next door. And dealing with the big, wide, very Caucasian hinterlands gets off to a poor start when Kelly delivers a well-deserved middle finger at a gas station to a couple of leering youthful yokels (Jasper Keen, Micah McNeil) who go unnamed, but might as well be monikered Cletus and Jethro. The anticipated three-day trip would be onerous enough given this quartet’s argumentative dynamic. ![]() Sharing driving duties on the long haul is Brenda’s antic ne’er-do-well brother Reggie ( Chris Bridges, aka Ludacris). “Just so you know, you’re ruining my life,” Kelly helpfully informs Mom while being pried off the boyfriend she’s leaving behind. ![]() ![]() Already grieving their father, teenage daughter Kelly (Mychala Faith Lee) and preteen son Cameron (Shaun Dixon) are further distressed by the prospect of moving to Houston, where their grandmother lives. After her husband’s death from cancer, Brenda (Latifah) can no longer afford to stay in their spacious Southern California house. The Freemans - a choice of name that signals the script’s heavy hand - are introduced just as they’re saying goodbye to the only home some of them have ever known. ![]()
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