World Traveler Review
by Jerry Saravia (faust668 AT aol DOT com)April 21st, 2003
WORLD TRAVELER (2001)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
RATING: Two stars and a half
It is possible that one can watch "World Traveler" and assume it is yet another aimless road movie. It also stars an aimless actor, Billy Crudup, the kind of shining star who wanders from movie to movie without any real definite purpose. Maybe it is his looks, as someone suggests in this film, or maybe he is the kind of soul you want to reach out to. "World Traveler" is certainly aimless and a tad indifferent, but it also has the fundamentally conservative view that if one escapes from society, one will suffer and have no choice but to return.
Crudup plays Cal, a married New York City architect with a young son who is celebrating his third birthday. He has a lovely wife, a good job and is living in a great city. So what is Cal's problem? Why does he split with a sports bag and a Volvo stationwagon and head for the road to nowhere? Or is he going nowhere? His first stop is at a diner where a waitress (Karen Allen) tells him that she had five husbands ("they are a temporary state of mind"). Cal acquires a job at a construction site and bonds with Carl (Cleavant Derricks), a married man who's never had any real friends. The trouble is that Cal is an alcoholic and forces the AA member Carl to drink. Before you know it, Cal is on the road again. He picks up a young hitchhiker whom he deserts at an airport. He also sees a former buddy from high school (James LeGros) whom he distances himself from. But then there is Dulcie (Julianne Moore), a drunk found sleeping at a bar. The police are ready to pick her up but Cal does the right thing - he brings her back to his motel room. He wants to help her find her son in Oregon. He wants to do one thing right, and then we realize that he needs to find himself at some point. When he sees his father (David Keith), who had deserted him at the age of 12, it is clear that Cal sees how wrongheaded and foolish he has been.
Writer-director Bart Freundlich ("The Myth of Fingerprints") attempts to show that Cal is only going through a mid-life crisis and will eventually wake up from his state of mind. Freundlich gives us subtle clues into Cal's character, showing his neurosis and his alcoholism, not to mention sleeping with every woman he meets and then leaving them high and dry. We get the sense that Cal has learned about desertion through his own father, and twice we hear the line: "I wanted a better life." But this is hardly illuminating news. I would understand that a man marries because the other partner asks him to, particularly if she is pregnant, but is that enough reason to assume there is a better life than the one Cal has? Since we get no hint of why Cal wanted to leave in the first place, we are left wandering and wondering with him every step of the way. When he sees his father, the motivation becomes clearer yet I am not sure it is anything but a cop-out. Freundlich may be uninterested in really exploring why Cal left his family (It could be that the director himself is married and has a baby. Asking why one should leave a family can be a scary thought). The little glimpses we get are not enough to flesh out the character. Just what is this better life, or does he have it already? I'll leave you to figure that one out.
"World Traveler" is an aimless, fascinating journey but it lacks the conviction of its initial premise. It seems a little too safe and soft, rather than hard-around-the-edges (as one would expect with the intense Crudup). The cast is superb, and lovely Julianne Moore shows frailty and weakness better than any actress or actor could. I also liked Karen Allen's abbreviated part, a spicy role that could have benefitted from more screen time. James LeGros is funny and obnoxious as always, stealing the movie briefly from Crudup. I just felt shortchanged by it, wishing it had the courage to really explore Cal's mind.
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