Youth in Oregon
Youth in Oregon
| 03 February 2017 (USA)
Youth in Oregon Trailers

A man is tasked with driving his embittered 80-year-old father-in-law cross country to be legally euthanized in Oregon, while along the way helping him rediscover a reason for living.

Reviews
Jeanskynebu the audience applauded
Spoonixel Amateur movie with Big budget
Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.
greenblueglee I agree with some of the points other reviewers have made, but I wanted to offer an opinion from inside the subject matter of the film. Has a member of your family chosen to die by their own hand because they face the rest of their lives in an ill and endlessly declining body? Or do you currently know someone who is now, or has been, terribly ill and now faces an unknown quantity of time on Earth with a seriously altered body that no longer looks or functions normally? From both of these perspectives, I watched this film, hoping to see something with which I could identify. I ended up feeling a bit ripped off - which really made me think. As others have said, what you think should be the vital points of the topic feel buried under heavy-handed drama that grates on the nerves rather than lending a sense of "the real stuff people have to deal with when they're alive." And yes, it feels like a screwball comedy that had all of the humor erased from the script. An artistic choice? I don't know. Yes, people get angry when faced with the possibility or the reality of a loved-one's suicide. Anger, resentment, guilt, it is all there. But there is no "voice of reason" in this film, and I suspect that's what most viewers feel cheated of. We want a magical ending, a sense of completion, catharsis, or at least a sense of dramatic satisfaction (the ending may not be the one we hoped for, but it felt 'right'). What was Roy thinking, sitting in the room with his friend Pete? To me, in retrospect, that was the climax of the film - the point where a decision was made and now everyone in the story has to figure out how to deal with it (and with all the things they've said to each other throughout the film). This movie may not be what we wanted, but it is what it is and we have to choose how to deal with it and with its subject matter (which isn't what we were hoping for, let's face it). People make choices. There are cumulative consequences for every one of those choices, and there is no "easy" out. Death is never an "easy" out. That stings, both in art and in life.
selena-71096 Spoiler alert. Here is a 80 years old man who is depressed because he is not "competent", " his candle can no longer stand, and is mournfully laid to rest in the hope of a blessed resurrection which is never to come ( I quoted Mark Twain here). His 68 years old wife "wants that candle -- yearns for it, longs for it, hankers after it", at least this is what filmmakers want us to believe, to the point that she because an alcoholic out of deprivation...LOL. This 80yo man seems to be obsessed with sex, talks about it, sees it everywhere he looks- his young granddaughter, college youth, his wife allegedly looking for sex everywhere... So he can't handle it any longer and decides to die by legal euthanasia in Oregon. His heart stenosis while restricts his life, but nowhere near the agony of people who are true candidates for euthanasia. His suffering is mostly mental. Add to this the never ending family bickering which comes, as expected, to end when grandpa decides to die and you get the picture what this movie is about. Meantime the dying grandpa throws away his walking cane and settles in a lounge chair and starts observing wild birds with a binocular. What message this movie was supposed to deliver? Please let me know, because I missed it.
Leftbanker Some old guy wants to die and for some stupid reason he has to drive across country instead of flying and so his chauffeur is his son-in-law who doesn't like him. Is that about right? Add teenage daughter's jug pics, an absent son, a mother-in-law who is a professional wise-ass, and a shared room at motel and you have all of the ingredients for a lousy excuse for a drama-comedy—except there is nothing approaching humor. The problem is that humor needs to be mildly original or you are just listening to bad, old jokes. We've heard this one before.Every conversation was just people screaming at each other over completely petty matters. It gets so bad so quickly that I wanted to beat him to the assisted suicide except it's not legal here. My next option is to beat them all to death starting with grandpa. Because why would I want to spend a movie with such disagreeable people?Since the old sourpuss—and slightly abusive—curmudgeon and his punk son-in-law can't have an intelligent conversation we stop off to pick up his estranged gay son except their relationship is even more toxic than the others. There's more, folks, and it's all people screaming hateful things at each. No amount of the great American landscape could ever be enough to salvage this car wreck. If there was even one brief moment of intelligence and lucidity in this I missed it.There is a Swedish novel that is a bestseller these days called A Man Called Ove. It's about a miserable old jerfkoff, sort of like grandpa in this bomb. What saved the novel for me was the thick vein of sweetness which ran through the book, especially in the second part. This sweetness made me realize that this was what I hated so much about the TV series All in the Family when I was a kid. It was all people being horrible to each other with no soft spot. This movie could have used a heavy dose, either that or a real comedy writer to make all of the yelling and screaming funny.
David Ferguson Greetings again from the darkness. This is one of those tough little indie movies that would fit right in at most film festivals. Directed by Joel David Moore and written by Andrew Eisen, the film has a few exceptional scenes, yet once it's over, it's pretty easy to just leave it behind. That shouldn't happen with a story dealing with a theme of death with dignity. Shouldn't there be a desire to talk about the issue, or at least spend some time in thought?Perhaps the reason this one isn't the gut-punch we expect is that while the central reason for the story is 80 year old Ray's (Frank Langella) desire to end life on his terms, the vast majority of screen time is devoted to the exceptionally dysfunctional family that surrounds him. It's not an "issue" movie, and dysfunctional family movies are about as common as superhero movies these days … we've become a bit numb.Ray and his wife Estelle (Mary Kay Place) are living with their daughter Kate (Christina Applegate), her husband Brian (Billy Crudup) and Kate and Brian's teenage daughter Annie (Nicola Peltz). It's a crowded house where emotions run high, voices are usually amped to 11, and Kate and Brian's marriage is stressed to the limit with responsibilities. Bad news at the doctor's office leads Ray to the crucial decision on his future. He announces this while giving the most uncomfortable birthday speech ever at dinner that evening … "I want to die." It's a terrific scene and each person's reaction is priceless – to the point where we almost wish it were in slow motion so as not to miss anything.Typically poor teenage judgment by daughter Annie means mother Kate stays at home for discipline, while Brian reluctantly agrees to drive Ray cross country to Oregon to find out if he qualifies under the mercy killing law. Estelle and her always present booze come along for the ride, but it's mostly the strained relationship between Ray and Brian that generate the fireworks. Along the way, they add Ray's estranged gay son Danny (Josh Lucas), as well as Brian's angry college age son Nick (Alex Shaffer). Once they reach Oregon, another wonderful scene/sequence occurs as Ray meets up with a longtime friend who has made the same decision. It's a well handled and well acted portion of the story.Ray's decision to hide his medical diagnosis from the family is the source of the most recent conflict, but there's a history in this family. Isn't that always the case? A lack of communication often causes even more issues than too much honesty. The abundance of dysfunction can't be offset by some peaceful bird-watching, and all of the frustration and anger prevents the necessary conversations on the more interesting topic … a reason to live vs. a desire to die. A slight re-focus would have taken more advantage of the terrific performance of Langella, and added some fun to the post movie discussion.