Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Wai Feesch I watched this movie based on the generally strong reviews, but I was sourly disappointed and felt compelled to write a counterpoint. Whatever chemistry led the lead actors to marry in real life failed to translate to the screen. Their conversations are humorless and devoid of the charm that makes good romantic comedies compelling. The suspension of disbelief required to swallow the characters' evolution is just too much. Imagine learning someone is a murderer and shrugging it off (not that this exactly happens in the movie, but that's what it felt like).Amber's emotional range is mostly expressed via her hair style, and Sam.... Not an actor. Stick with directing.I found this movie to be sub par.

TxMike This is a rather small independent movie brought to us by the husband and wife team of Jaeger and Jaeger. That scared me a bit but my wife and I watched it on Netflix streaming movies and found it nicely enjoyable.Amber Jaeger is 30-something New York career woman Claire. She comes home to find her husband at the table with a dim-witted but pretty younger lady, claiming she was doing some work for him. But when Claire makes a comment about their lives and putting off things, like painting the bedroom, the young lady comments as she is leaving, "By the way, I like the color of your bedroom walls." That is a subtle by clear affirmation of what Claire suspects.The movie is mostly about the road trip. Claire gets a phone message from her mom in Las Vegas, Claire's dad in California has taken sick and is in the hospital. At her wit's end she goes outside in the dark and rain, hails the first cab she sees, and says "Just drive" with no other instructions. She is in the illegal cab of Sam Jaeger (her real-life husband since 2007) who, as Thom, drives it to pick up some cash when things get tight. So he drives. They end up on I-70, when she awakes she finds they are in Pennsylvania. At first freaking out she eventually embraces the idea of driving to California, she agrees to pay him $1000 each day for 5 days, plus food and lodging expenses. Unfortunately she loses her purse and credit cards, they have to scramble to make it.In one funny scene they find the airport nearest their location, go there and pick up a series of people and/or families to make some cash. And another (which I have actually thought about doing) where he goes into a motel lobby in the morning, pulling a wheeled luggage, and loads up with donuts, muffins, and fruit at the free breakfast spread.Another funny scene is when they both wake up in the car and find they are in the desert with no road around. She had been driving the night before, they both fell asleep and she drove somewhere into the desert. They had to find the road again and get a tow to fix the car that wouldn't start.While this movie will never be confused with a big blockbuster movie, or one that will win an Oscar, it is indeed very smartly written and acted. We enjoyed it.SPOILERS: With a stop to visit his parents (and steal a bit of money) and a stop to visit her mom in Las Vegas, they make it to California but only in time for the funeral. She goes back to NYC, he stays in California, some time passes, she has moved into her own place, she gets a package delivered, it is a picture book Thom has published of his photos during their road trip. She looks him up in Northern California, the movie ends as they are together on Big Sur.

dan-2710 The movie reminds me of John Cassavetes in its understatement of the tensions and drama of small moments. And the characters' flaws are not systematically, that is smoothly or monotonically remedied, so dramatic tension in the movie is sustained. No sex or glamor or exotic tricks are needed to bring this film home. The dialog is smart and honest and is pitched right for the scenes, not unnecessarily cleverMy daughter and I simultaneously remarked on Amber Jaeger's softness and beauty, one non-conforming to anorexic standards. A deep bench of talent in secondary roles, too. Because the two lead characters are married, their coming together in the final scene makes the movie feel like a tribute to their own marriage. I don't know if that's Sam Jaeger's intent.

secondtake Take Me Home (2011)When a movie makes you want to get on the road and see the country, it's doing something right. In classic storytelling fashion, we begin with some quick and disastrous events by two characters who haven't met. Their lives are in various state of ruin (emotional or actual) and when they meet--well, the sparks definitely do not fly.But the story begins in earnest. And what is a short drive around New York transforms into the main idea of the movie. And of course the two have to find a way to get along, which involves slowly coming to understand each other mostly by letting their own old habits and presumptions fade away.The leads are actually a married couple, Sam and Amber Jaeger, and Sam is the director and writer (and producer), so yes, it's a home brew movie. But it's shot with the high end Red digital camera and it feels fully professional. And more important, the acting by these two leads, who dominate the movie completely, is terrific. You feel where both of them are coming from, and when they change it makes sense.The details of the story sometimes dip into obvious or slightly unbelievable zones. Every now and then the dialog is a hair off kilter. And maybe there could have been a slight shift in pace to keep the flow flowing. It's not a masterpiece, surely, but they know that, too. It doesn't have those kinds of ambitions.What "Take Me Home" aims for is a light, believable sincerity, a sweetness that we all recognize and sometimes need, and which doesn't get too too sugary. And on that level it's a really enjoyable movie. And it really does make you want to hit the road.