At Any Price (2012)

You will have to watch this one it is a family story. From a family perspective. But it's just not your family. You get to see how truly hollow some people are. How they are just a fine film or puff of something attached to a smile floating through a room just trying to get through another day. Dennis Quaid plays that hollow puff of a man, and he plays him well. There are so many layers to this family that you will be taken to some surprising places. I Enjoyed this movie quite a bit, though the people in it need to be smacked awake, the player playing them are all top notch, and the production is very clean, and never feels cheap, just down to earth, and from the perspective of real people. You don't need my recommendation, but you have it for this movie, and I know you will be glad you spent a couple of hours with the Whipples.

If you find yourself depressed and confused in life altogether, this movie will hit home for you. It has no meaning and truly no plot worth entertaining.From front to finish I asked myself, "what am doing watching this?" I kept thinking in all the overly goofy acting by Quaid, "surely this gets better, right?" NO! It was hideous and the ending was worse than the body of the movie. I recommend the swine flu over the viewing of this terrible film!I cannot believe Quaid, Efron, and Heather Graham are hurting so bad for roles, that they would stoop this low. I bet they looked at each other after the first viewing and burst out laughing at what a ridiculous pile of film they partook in!

AT ANY PRICE (dir. Ramin Bahrani) If the film had just developed a single tangent, such as the troubled relationship between a father and son without all the other thematic distractions, it might have worked. Dennis Quaid turns in an exceptional performance as a GMO mega-farmer whose family has owned the land for four generations, yet no one in his family seems the slightest bit interested in continuing in the business of farming. However, because so many story angles are opened up and explored, the film loses focus. There's the story of the two sons- one is off climbing mountains in South America while the other aspires to excel on the NASCAR circuit, and then there is the sub-plot of the father's questionable dealings with genetically modified crop seeds, his sexual infidelity with one of his old high school cheerleader pals (by the way, they don't appear to have attended high school within two decades of each other), and the 'professional' relationship with his youngest son's teen-aged girlfriend (possibly the brightest point of the film). And finally there's that unfortunate second degree homicide that pops up out of the blue. It seems that the intent was to produce a film where the whole was greater than the sum of its parts, but AT ANY PRICE flounders and struggles with a handful of disparate elements that don't add up to much of anything except a credible performance by Dennis Quaid. As Archie Bell and The Drells used to say, 'Do The Tighten Up!'

Let me begin by saying that I'm a huge fan of the director Ramin Bahrani, who also co-wrote this film with Hallie Elizabeth Newton. I thought 3 of his previous films were brilliant-"Goodbye Solo", "Chop Shop", and "Man Push Cart". In this latest movie, he presents an intense drama played out in the farm heartland of America.Dennis Quaid is superb as Henry Whipple, a rather smarmy, passive- aggressive owner of a huge and prosperous farm in Churdan, Iowa. He's extremely proud to be the latest in his family to run the farm passed down through four generations. He wants to pass it along to either of his two sons, preferably to Grant, the eldest, or to Dean the youngest. However, they have little interest in the farm, with Grant climbing mountains in Argentina while Dean, ably portrayed by Zac Efron, wants to be a NASCAR driver, after some success at local dirt tracks.Henry is under a lot of pressure to maintain his status. His father Cliif (Red West), despite being retired, is quite controlling and always pushing Henry to make sure nothing goes wrong with the family business and their heritage. Also, a rival grain salesman Jim Johnson, well portrayed by Clancy Brown, is having success "turning" Henry's customers to his side. Finally, a whistleblower has alerted investigators that Henry may be involved in illegal activities, by cleaning and re-selling GMO's (genetically modified seeds).All of this pressure will bring great strain on Henry's family, eventually leading to dramatic and tragic consequences for all concerned.There's lots of strong performances in supporting roles. Maika Monroe, as Cadence Farrow, Dean's sweet and sharp witted girlfriend, has excellent screen charisma and could be a young star in the making. Kim Dickens is also solid in her performance as Irene Whipple, Henry's perhaps too patient and loving wife. Finally , Heather Graham adds to the mix as Meredith Crown, Henry's long time mistress.I thought Bahrani captured the feel of the Iowan farm community quite well in the movie. I believe the film received lukewarm reviews, but, as mentioned, I found it to be an engrossing intense drama. I also thought the ending was true to the nature of the film and not a cop out, although I could see how others may not take it that way.