TAKE ME HOME

Thirtysomething Thom  is having another bad day. He fails to convince an Agent to give him his first  break into photography, his Landlord has evicted him for not paying the rent yet again, and the illegal taxi cab he cheaply bought at an auction won’t start.  It does eventually and Thom sets out into the streets of Manhattan to try to pick up fares in his fake cab.  Luckily for him Claire has had an equally bad day.  She had caught her husband red-handed flirting with his new secretary when she went home unexpected, and her mother has just called to tell her that her father that she is estranged from has been hospitalized in California after suffering a heart-attack. Totally distraught and not knowing where to go, Claire rushes into the street and hails a cab and demands that the driver just ‘drive!’.  And so Thom does exactly that as Claire sinks into the back seat and just sobs her heart out.

By the time she wakes next morning a horrified Claire discovers that they are now belting down the Freeway in Pennsylvania, and her ‘journey’ has started in more than one sense of the word.  

This rather charming wee film is part road movie and part romantic comedy and as  they deal with series of mini dramas, the two strangers run the whole gamut of hate and anger to more than a tender affection for each other by the time they reach their destination. They run out of money  … just in every road movie … and the balance of power between the two changes constantly. Thom must come clean with the whole web of lies and deceit that he has used to conceal his real life, and Claire equally must deal with her need to be in complete control of her emotions that shuts everyone else out of her life.

The movie was a labour of love as it is written, directed and produced by the actor Sam Jaegar (‘Parenthood’, ‘Eli Stone’ etc) and if that is not enough, he stars as Thom too.  His real life wife Amber Jaeger … a very fine actress indeed …. plays Claire and the very obvious chemistry the pair is  a very big plus point to the movie’s success.

This modest wee film is by no means perfect as the plot drags at times and some of the dialogue could have been better, but with some rather wonderful acting in particular and the fact that its very mature  for rom-com, makes it both refreshing and entertaining. And full marks to Mr Jaegar for resisting the temptation and avoiding tying up all the loose ends to make a tidy finale.

The movie picked up two Audience Favorite Awards on the Festival circuit, and I can see why.  If you are a tad romantic you’ll end up being as fond of this movie too just in the way that Thom was of his passenger by the time he collected final payment.


★★★★★★★★