“Holy s..t, they’re doing it!” Denise (Anne Hathaway)
David Robert Mitchell’s (It Follows) The End of Oak Street is not always as amusing as when the heroine exclaims she sees dinosaurs fornicating, but it has a certain charm wherein you can see the writer/director’s tongue firmly in his cheek. With whiffs of Spielberg and his family-oriented Jurassic Park, this sci-fi gives summer thrills while hinting at the rot in suburban America that falsely feels it is protected from home invasion.
Denise and Greg Platt (Ewan McGregor) and family live in that deluded suburb where neighbor complains about their dog, Starbuck, and old ladies keep a friendly watch. When they see a pack of Triassic Coelophysises and the usual Trex, Spinosaurus, and Stegosaurus, they realize their ‘hood has been invaded, time warped to a very ancient time. This sci-fi fun then becomes the usual fight for survival, leaving concern for neighbors behind and the struggle against very big bad boys with only a sledgehammer and 22 rifle.
Although Mom comports herself well with the rifle, her job for the rest of the film is to embrace, kiss, and cry over her three kids. The obligation spills to the whine and embrace, especially the girls. Feminism takes a blow when Denise does the common crying of scare fests.
Yeah, they may figure out the time warp mechanics, and they might become one happy family with mom and dad emotionally reconciled and the kids not crying as much. You guessed it.
Hey, it’s summer and even your Marvel heroics are obsessed with the family motif. Enjoy!
The End of Oak Street
Director: David Robert Mitchell (It Follow)
Screenplay: Mitchell
Cast: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) Ewan MacGregor (Moulin Rouge)
Length: 1h 39m
Rating: PG-13
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take (recently listed by Feedspot as two of the ten best NPR Movie Podcasts) out of WCBE 90.5 FM, Columbus, Ohio.Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com