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10 best road trip movies from the 2020s on prime video (ranked by imdb).

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Vin diesel's fast & furious replacement role is the exact opposite of dominic toretto, christopher nolan’s new remake has a perfect lead role for 1 actor he's not worked with since 2017.

Don’t Make Me Go  was recently released on Prime Video and is about a father-daughter road trip after Max, the father, learns he has a terminal illness. Max decides not to tell his daughter, Wally, the real reason why they're making this trip, and it's from this withholding of information that the true melodrama starts.

Don't Make Me Go is a classic road trip-style movie where the journey is far more important than the destination, and the growth the characters find within themselves is the true point of the movie. Even with the 2020s in their early years, there has already been a fair number of "road trip movies" that examine these exact topics.

She's In Portland (2020) 5.7

She's in Portland is a movie about two old friends who, envying each other's lives, take a road trip to find "the one that got away." Through the course of their road trip, the two men bond and rekindle their friendship that doesn't rely on machismo for the two men to be taken seriously.

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She's in Portland is a movie about two men's friendship that is not typically seen on screen. Many movies with two male leads rely on stunts and heavy action, whereas  She's in Portland relies on the two men's budding friendship and the lessons they learn along the way. Taking place along the Pacific Coast Highway, viewers will be stunned by the gorgeous views the pair stop at along the way.

Stop And Go (2021) 5.9

In this hilarious comedy, two sisters take a cross-country trip to rescue their grandma from a Covid outbreak at her nursing home. This movie was created during the Coronavirus pandemic and very much showcases the fear that many people had in interacting with others during this time.

Despite their circumstances, the sisters find humor in their situation that doesn't quite land with all viewers. It's true that while the entire human race went through the pandemic, it doesn't necessarily mean it can be joked about with much success. Despite this, the film certainly has its moments of whimsy and is a great movie to while the time away with.

Unpregnant (2020) 6.4

Apropos of the time,  Unpregnant  is about two teenage girls, Bailey (Barbie Ferreira) and Veronica (Haley Lu Richardson) who embark on a harrowing and emotional, yet hilarious journey to another state to be able to obtain an abortion without requiring parental permission. Along the way, they are accosted by pro-lifers and policemen and get a ride from an anti-government survivalist.

While this movie deals with heavy topics, it's done so with comedic timing and heart and doesn't skirt around the reality of Veronica's situation. The film is a great true road trip style movie with many obstacles thrown their way, as is typical of the genre. It very much gives  Booksmart and even  Superbad vibes in a way that makes a difficult situation funny.

The Man In The Hat (2020) 6.4

The Man in the Hat  is a beautifully cinematic film that has almost no dialogue, as the speaking is done through music. It's a classic road trip movie that, in the words of Ciarán Hinds , who plays the main character, "won't take too much of your time... you can just be a human being and watch this little journey and feel things."

The Man in the Hat is beautifully orchestrated with music instead of prose, simple yet emotional scenes like a man eating olives out of a jar that'll have viewers reaching for the Kleenex and the small moments that make humans, human. It's the type of movie that is simply experienced rather than relying on stunts or heavy action to make it memorable. It just is.

Dog (2022) 6.5

Starring Channing Tatum as Briggs,  Dog is about an Army Ranger who suffers from PTSD and isn't eligible for service. To get on his commanding officer's good side, he agrees to take an aggressive dog, Lulu, to his late partner's funeral. Through their hilarious and sometimes scary interactions, Briggs and Lulu learn more than they ever thought they could have from each other.

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The film is inspired by true events that Tatum experienced with his own dog. Viewers have become weary of movies with dogs as it seems that they are destined for a bitter end, however, the marketing for  Dog assured viewers that the dog does not indeed die, which made viewers keener to watch.

The Trip To Greece (2020) 6.6

The Trip to Greece is a comedy film following fictionalized versions of two actors, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, as they traverse the steps of Odysseus from Troy to Ithaca. It's the fourth installment in the franchise, following  The Trip  to Italy,  The Trip to Spain,  and the original iteration centered in England.

Along with the  hilarious banter between Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, viewers are dazzled with gorgeous shots of the delectable food the pair dine on throughout their journey. The movie released at the start of the 2020 pandemic and was an outlet for people to "travel" without actually leaving their homes.

Supernova (2020) 6.8

Starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci,  Supernova  is about Sam ( Firth, in arguably one of his best movies of all time ) and Tusker (Tucci) embarking on a road trip through the English countryside after Tusker has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Similar to  Still Alice , this movie explores the grief, heartache, and denial of losing a loved one before they're even gone.

Though the film was ultimately snubbed by the awards circuit, it shows an achingly accurate portrayal of dementia and the trials and tribulations the couple face through their hardships. The two leads give a performance of a lifetime that will leave viewers remembering their characters more than the specifics of the film.

Hit The Road (2021) 7.3

Hit the Road is an Iranian comedy/drama about a family driving to the Turkish border to smuggle their eldest son out of the country. Despite the often comedic moments of the movie, there is a constant note of fear running through everyone in the film but the young boy, who hasn't been told the truth about why his older brother is leaving Iran.

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Hit the Road was met with critical acclaim and was director Panah Panahi's debut film. The film is shot almost exclusively from the inside of the car and uses humor as a way to keep the family from falling too far into anguish and heartbreak, though it is there just below the surface.

Nomadland (2020) 7.3

After being a smash success on the film festival circuit,  Nomadland  went on to win Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress (Frances McDormand) at the Academy Awards. Based on a non-fiction book, Fern (McDormand),  recently widowed and unemployed, sets off in a newly acquired van around the U.S. to live as a nomad.

Throughout her travels, she meets fellow nomads who teach her valuable lessons about living on the road as well as invaluable lessons about life, death, love, and family.  Nomadland is meant to show what real American life can look like without glamorizing it the way Hollywood has been known to do.

C'mon C'mon (2021) 7.4

In this heartwarming and earnest film, Joaquin Phoenix impresses as an uncle who forges a bond with his young nephew, Jesse, who he hasn't seen in over a year. When Jesse's mom asks Johnny (Phoenix) to come and stay with Jesse, and when she needs to extend her trip, Johnny and Jesse start a cross-country road trip together.

Shot completely in black and white, this movie is not about the end goal, but about the journey, and the lessons Johnny and Jesse learn along the way. Viewed through the eyes of a child, and through the eyes of an adult, it asks viewers to reflect on the circumstances in their own life and if it's possible to move on.

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• Nomadland (2021)

The 27 best road trip movies to watch so you forget you're stuck at home

• Can't go anywhere right now? A good road trip movie could put you in a better mood.
• Here are the 27 all-time best.
• Classics like "Easy Rider" and "Thelma & Louise" are on our roundup.
• There are also more recent movies like "Logan" and "Magic Mike XXL." 
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories .

Hollywood has always had a soft spot for road trip movies, and some have become memorable not just for what was shown on screen, but what the spirit of the movie meant for the people who saw them.

Take "Easy Rider" for example, whose no-rules approach launched a new way that movies were made for decades. Or "Thelma & Louise," which was as much about female empowerment as it was about a movie about two people on the run from the law.

Here are 27 road trip movies (listed alphabetically) you should check out before heading on your own adventure:

"Almost Famous" (2000)

Cameron Crowe's love letter to the 1970s rock and roll scene, which he covered as a writer for Rolling Stone, is a fun look at adolescence, fame, and highlights the non-stop grind of a band being "on the road."

"The Blues Brothers" (1980)

John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd play two brothers on a mission from God. Trying to get on the straight-and-narrow after getting out of prison, Jake Blues (Belushi) and his brother Elwood (Aykroyd) decide to help raise the money the Catholic home they were raised in needs to stay open. That leads to a road trip around Illinois to get the band back together.

"Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (2006)

With the help of director Larry Charles, Sacha Baron Cohen creates one of the funniest road trip movies ever made as he takes his character, Borat, to America to marry Pamela Anderson. But in the process, the movie highlights the US itself, as Borat travels the country doing everything from singing the Kazakhstan national anthem at a rodeo to hanging out with some fraternity kids.

"Dumb and Dumber" (1994)

In this Farrelly brothers classic, friends Lloyd (Jim Carrey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) are convinced the gas man is out to get them after the death of their bird, so they decide to drive to Aspen to hand-deliver a briefcase the beautiful Mary (Lauren Holly) "forgot" at the airport. Oh, and they are hitting the road in a truck that's made up to look like a dog.

"Easy Rider" (1969)

It's the movie that launched the "New Hollywood" era of the 1970s and was made with little money and lots of drugs.

Directed by Dennis Hopper, the Hollywood bad boy also stars alongside Peter Fonda as two hippie bikers (Jack Nicholson also shows up) who travel from LA to New Orleans after cashing in on smuggling cocaine from Mexico. On their freewheeling trip, they find an America that's split between the stuffy establishment and the younger generation that is starving for change.

"The End of the Tour" (2015)

The days of conversations between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) and author David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) are beautifully profiled in director James Ponsoldt's intimate story that has the two men interacting while on the road for Wallace's book tour.

"Into the Wild" (2007)

Based on a true story, Christopher McCandless' quest to go off the grid and hitchhike to Alaska to live in the wilderness is a powerful exploration of human desire and the kindness of strangers.

"It Happened One Night" (1934)

Frank Capra's famous movie is romantic comedy at its best. Claudette Colbert plays a spoiled heiress running from home, and Clark Gable is a reporter who finally thinks he's found a story that will get him some attention as he follows her to New York. But it will be forever known for its hitchhiking scene in which Colbert's character gets them a ride by pulling up her skirt to show off her legs.

"Little Miss Sunshine" (2006)

Filled with an all-star cast including Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, and Abigail Breslin, we follow a dysfunctional family as they jump in a VW bus to drive the young Olive (Breslin) on a cross-country trip to the finals of a beauty pageant she's competing in.

"Logan" (2017)

Marking the coda of the Hugh Jackman era as Wolverine, director James Mangold delivers a somber drama of the superhero's final days. Here he and Charles Xavier set out to drive a young mutant to a refuge in North Dakota. That sounds simple, but it definitely isn't.

"Magic Mike XXL" (2015)

In this fantastic sequel to the 2012 original, Mike (Channing Tatum) sets out on the road with the remaining members of the Kings of Tampa in a food truck to Myrtle Beach for one final performance.

"Midnight Run" (1988)

Robert De Niro is fantastic in this foul-mouthed comedy as bounty hunter Jack Walsh who plans to cash in when he tracks down a sneaky accountant (played by Charles Grodin) who has jumped bail.

But with the FBI, other bounty hunters, and the mob also trying to get their hands on his bounty, things aren't easy for Jack.

"The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004)

Based on the Che Guevara memoir he wrote before becoming the Marxist revolutionary, Gael García Bernal plays young Guevara who, in 1952, went on a trip across South America with his friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna). The experience shaped Guevara's life as it showed him the injustices of the world.

"The Muppet Movie" (1979)

Marking the first time the Muppets appear on the big screen, Kermit, Fozzie Bear and the rest of the gang go on a cross-country drive to Hollywood in hopes of making it big. A load of cameos, songs, and hilarity occur along the way.

"National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983)

This classic from director Harold Ramis stars Chevy Chase as one of his most memorable characters, Clark W. Griswold, the ambitious father whose vacation plans always never work out.

Clark takes the family cross-country to Walley World and in the process leaves chaos in his wake.

"On the Road" (2012)

Based on the iconic Jack Kerouac novel, Sam Riley plays the book's narrator, Sal Paradise, who after meeting Dean (Garrett Hedlund) and Marylou (Kristen Stewart), head on a free-spirited road trip across the country.

"Over the Top" (1987)

Sylvester Stallone plays trucker and arm wrestling pro Lincoln Hawk who needs to get to Las Vegas to compete in the world arm wrestling tournament. But he also has to get his estranged son to his dying mother. This all leads to a big-rig father-and-son road trip.

"Pee-wee's Big Adventure" (1985)

A loose parody of Vittorio De Sica's classic "Bicycle Thieves," Tim Burton makes his own classic around the zany antics of Paul Reubens' hit character Pee-wee Herman.

The movie follows the "boy" as he goes to search of his stolen bike, which he's been told by a psychic is in the basement of the Alamo (spoiler alert: there's no basement in the Alamo).

"Planes, Trains & Automobiles" (1987)

Steve Martin and John Candy play two men who suddenly have to become travel companions as they try to get home for the holidays. Written and directed by John Hughes, Martin and Candy together are a delight.

"Rain Man" (1988)

Tom Cruise plays sleazy Charlie Babbitt and Dustin Hoffman is his brother Raymond, who suffers from savant syndrome. Hoping to cash in on the fortune Raymond got from their father, Charlie sets the two out on a cross-country trip leading to a lot of self-discovery.

If you've never seen Barry Levinson's Oscar-winning movie, now's the time.

"Road Trip" (2000)

Of course "Road Trip" was going to be on this list. Todd Phillips' insane raunchy comedy about four college friends on a race against time to retrieve a sex tape sent in the mail to one of their girlfriends is always a fun watch.

"Smokey and the Bandit" (1977)

Burt Reynolds teams with his pal and longtime stunt double Hal Needham for his first directing effort, and it would go on to become a classic road trip movie.

Reynolds plays a fast-driving bootlegger who has to transport 400 cases of Coors beer safely from Texarkana to Atlanta. But things get complicated when Reynolds picks up a runaway bride (played by Sally Field) along the way.

"The Straight Story" (1999)

In one of David Lynch's most traditional storytelling offerings, Richard Farnsworth plays a man who sets out on a trip via riding a lawnmower to make things right with his ill brother.

The story is based on a real-life event, in which Alvin Straight traveled 240 miles from Iowa to Wisconsin on a lawnmower.

"Stranger Than Paradise" (1984)

Jim Jarmusch's second feature film follows Willie and his friend Eddie as they set out on a road trip to Cleveland to visit Willie's cousin from Hungary, Eva.

The movie went on to be regarded as a landmark work in the independent film world for its unconventional long takes and do-it-yourself aesthetic.

"Thelma & Louise" (1991)

Ridley Scott's look at the road-trip-turned-manhunt adventure of friends Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) is arguably more powerful today because of the #MeToo than when it opened in the early 1990s.

"Tommy Boy" (1995)

Perhaps the best Chris Farley/David Spade collaboration, in this one Farley plays an underachieving college graduate who suddenly has to travel the nation (with Spade as the geeky sidekick) to keep the accounts for his auto-parts family business after his father dies. This one truly shows off Farley's high-energy comedy greatness.

"Y Tu Mamá También" (2001)

Director Alfonso Cuarón received a best screenplay Oscar nomination with his brother Carlos for this powerful road trip movie that made Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal international stars.

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‘Hit the Road’ Review: An Iranian Family Makes a Run for the Border in Panah Panahi’s Unforgettable Debut

David ehrlich.

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Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2021 New York Film Festival. Kino Lorber releases the film in theaters on Friday, April 22.

A family road trip movie in which we never quite know where the film is heading (and are often lied to about why), “Hit the Road” may be set amid the winding desert highways and gorgeous emerald valleys of northwestern Iran, but Panah Panahi’s miraculous debut is fueled by the growing suspicion that its characters have taken a major detour away from our mortal coil at some point along the way. “Where are we?” the gray-haired mom (Pantea Panahiha) asks into the camera upon waking up from a restless catnap inside the SUV in which so much of this film takes place. “We’re dead,” squeaks the youngest of her two sons (Rayan Sarlak) from the back seat, the six-year-old boy already exuding some of the most anarchic movie kid energy this side of “The Tin Drum.”

They aren’t dead — at least not literally, even if the adorable stray dog who’s come along for the ride seems to be on its last legs — but the further Panahi’s foursome drives away from the lives they’ve left behind in Tehran, the more it begins to seem as if they’ve left behind life itself. A purgatorial fog rolls in as they climb towards the Turkish border, and with it comes a series of semi-competent guides (one amusingly trying to steer a motorbike from behind a sheepskin balaclava) who show up to give the family vague directions as if they were clueless interns for the ferryman on the river Styx. A cosmic pall starts to shadow every scene, the characters growing further and further away from us with every long shot until they’re (literally) sucked into the shimmering abyss of outer space.

We may never know why Khosro (Hassan Madjooni) and his wife so urgently fled their home in order to smuggle 20-year-old Farid (Amin Simiar) out of the country and away from the autocratic government their introverted first-born kid must have offended somehow, but it’s clear that this family is speeding down a one-way street. “We lost our house and we sold our car for him to be able to leave,” one parent cries to the other. “Do you ever think of the future?” And yet it’s the past that’s being forfeited to pay for it. Later, the little boy will take stock of the situation and ask his dad if they’re cockroaches. “We are now,” Khosro grunts in response, most of his attention focused on the metal wire he’s using to scratch at the toes sticking out of his leg cast.

So it goes in a beautifully tender comedy that tears your heart in half with a featherlight touch — a film that swerves between tragedy and gallows humor with the expert control of a stunt driver, and knowingly sabotages all of its most crushing moments with a deadpan joke in order to keep Khosro’s family from running out of gas. “Hit the Road” is a story about people who have to laugh in order to stop themselves from crying, and Panahi commits to that dynamic with the unwavering dedication of someone who knows that his characters don’t have any other choice.

Considering that Panah Panahi is the son of the great filmmaker Jafar Panahi (still banned from making movies or leaving the country), and that the late Abbas Kiarostami was something more than a mentor to him, his feature debut would seem to follow in the formally inventive but aesthetically naturalistic tradition of the Iranian cinema that raised him. All the more so because masterworks like “Taxi,” “A Taste of Cherry,” and even the Japan-shot “Like Someone in Love” relied on cars for their unique ability to navigate the liminal interstate between public and private spaces. And yet, for all of the familiar ingredients that Panahi stirs into the mix — the subtle flourishes of self-reflexivity, his father’s dry sense of humor and broad political rebelliousness, Kiarostami’s penchant for staging critical dramatic moments in ultra-wide long shots — “Hit the Road” is the work of a filmmaker in full command of their own voice.

Some of that is owed to Panahi’s sly visual style and millennial reference points (a running joke about “Batman Begins” complements a more ruminative discussion of “2001: A Space Odyssey” and later a climactic “dubsmash,” if Instagram dads are still using that term), but so much of his movie’s unique character stems from the characters themselves. The sullen and vulnerable Farid — whose bid to escape Iran drives this elliptical story — is perhaps the only member of his family who doesn’t make an indelible mark.

Panahiha’s turn as a mother in crisis is alternately playful and wrenching; one  portrait shot of her camouflaged against the mists of time is enough to singe this entire film into your memory. Madjoon’s curmudgeonly take on Khosro is the kind of thing that seems like it could spiral into sitcom caricature at any moment (“I fell down,” he groans when someone asks how he hurt his leg. “From grace”), but his hobbling brand of hopelessness stems from a deep well of paternal heartache. “You and your brother are ruining me,” he tells his “little fart” of a youngest child, as if trying to pretend that this whole movie isn’t a profound act of love.

Maybe he doesn’t want to let Farid know how much his family is sacrificing for him, or maybe Khosro just doesn’t want to admit it to himself. There was ample room for Panahi to shine more light onto that uncertainty in a 93-minute film that only loses momentum when it tips into vagueness, but what difference would it have made in the end? Khosro’s choice is already made for him. It’s telling that our only clear insight into his mind comes during a monologue he delivers flat on his back and half out of his head, his youngest son lying flat across his stomach and moving up and down with each weary breath.

That little twerp is another thing Panahi lifts from his dad and the broader tradition of Iranian cinema: The hyper-cute,  transcendently annoying kid whose true nature is so irrepressible that he becomes a mirror capable of reflecting the deepest truths of the world around him. Not only does Simiar deliver one of the most well-calibrated child performances you’ll ever witness, his rascally innocence (and related confusion over Farid’s impending “marriage”) also provides a perfect counterweight to the unbearable heaviness that follows his family all the way to the Turkish border. His screechy voice blunts the solemness out of every terrible silence, a tendency that pays off a hundred times over during a tragicomic sequence that Panahi captures in a diorama-like ultra-wide shot; squint and you can see the boy’s tiny silhouette tied to a tree in the distance, flailing against the fates as his mother makes a deal with the devil on the far side of the frame.

It’s a moment that crystallizes how “Hit the Road” is at its best when simultaneously operating in two different gears. The agony of loss is offset by the raw energy of life, the specific details of Farid’s escape dovetail with the universal heartache of surrendering a child to the adult world, and the dolorous tones of a twinkling piano become roadkill for — in the words of a little boy sticking his entire upper body out of an SUV’s sunroof as it speeds across the desert flats — “BLISS!!!” You’ll know how he feels, even if that feeling crushes down on you with a weight that Simiar’s character won’t have to bear until he’s older. “Whenever you see a cockroach,” his dad puts it at one point, “remember that his parents sent him out into the world with lots of hope.”

“Hit the Road” screened at the 2021 New York Film Festival. Kino Lorber will release it in the United States in early 2022.

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‘Gasoline Rainbow’ Is a Radiant Teen Road Trip for Generation Z

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In sibling directors Bill and Turner Ross’ latest, Gasoline Rainbow , five Oregon teens just out of high school make their meandering way some 500 miles to reach the coast for what’s been billed as the “End of the World” party.

They are like countless young protagonists before them: on the road to find out. But while they share much of the same yearnings and anxieties of American road travelers from On the Road to Easy Rider , the circumstances of their particular coming of age are uniquely theirs — and what’s on the radio dial is, too. “Dude, I want to listen to some Shakira, bro,” one says from the backseat of their van.

This being the Ross brothers — the makers of the Texas-Mexico border portrait Western and Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets , in which they brought 22 people to a Las Vegas dive bar and asked them to act as though it was closing the next day — we are in a hybrid film world, part documentary, part fiction. Our characters — Micah, Nathaly, Nichole, Tony, Makai — are nonprofessional actors and their journey is a loosely constructed series of encounters that mostly unfold naturally.

It’s a filmmaking approach that can, in its weaker moments, result in the worst of both worlds: the rambling narrative of documentary and the manufactured quality of fiction. But on the whole, the Ross brothers’ observational, immersive filmmaking gets close to something bracingly real.

In the case of Gasoline Rainbow , which opens in theaters Friday, much is expressed by the land the teens traverse. Whether by car or on foot, their travels take them under highway overpasses, through sprawling train yards and along long rows of wind turbines. Global warming is mentioned only once, but it hovers over their uncertain future. They make their way across baren, dry lands and industrial blight. The name of that party is no coincidence.

Bleak as that may be, Gasoline Rainbow — which would fit comfortably alongside films like Alma Har’el’s Bombay Beach and Andrea Arnold’s American Honey — is most concerned with the question of: So what now? For these young people, unsure of what to do with their lives, getting out on the road provides plenty of answers. The world they’ve been left by older generations may be damaged. “Do you know what the difference is between kids and adults?” one elder tells them. “Adults aren’t supervised.” But there is beauty to be found, like shimmering pools of gasoline, if you’re willing to hit the road and make some new friends.

The answer lies most in community — in daring to leave the house, meet strangers and find like-minded souls. Perhaps more than anything, the Ross brothers — with a keen eye for American eccentrics — are interested in gathering together all the most interesting people they can find. And the spirit of camaraderie that results warms just as much as the bonfires gathered round in Gasoline Rainbow .

‘Gasoline Rainbow’ is released nationwide on May 10, 2024. It reaches the Bay Area on May 17, screening at San Francisco’s Roxie Theater . 

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Movie Review: A radiant teenage road trip in ‘Gasoline Rainbow’

This image released by MUBI shows a scene from “Gasoline Rainbow.” (MUBI via AP)

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In sibling directors Bill and Turner Ross ’ latest, “Gasoline Rainbow,” five Oregon teens just out of high school make their meandering way some 500 miles to reach the coast for what’s been billed as the “End of the World” party.

They are like countless young protagonists before them: on the road to find out. But while they share much of the same yearnings and anxieties of American road travelers from “On the Road” to “Easy Rider,” the circumstances of their particular coming of age are uniquely theirs — and what’s on the radio dial is, too. “Dude, I want to listen to some Shakira, bro,” one says from the backseat of their van.

This being the Ross brothers — the makers of the Texas-Mexico border portrait “Western” and “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets,” in which they brought 22 people to a Las Vegas dive bar and asked them to act as though it was closing the next day — we are in a hybrid film world, part documentary, part fiction. Our characters — Micah, Nathaly, Nichole, Tony, Makai — are nonprofessional actors and their journey is a loosely constructed series of encounters that mostly unfold naturally.

It’s a filmmaking approach that can, in its weaker moments, result in the worst of both worlds: the rambling narrative of documentary and the manufactured quality of fiction. But on the whole, the Ross brothers’ observational, immersive filmmaking gets close to something bracingly real.

In the case of “Gasoline Rainbow,” which opens in theaters Friday, much is expressed by the land the teens traverse. Whether by car or on foot, their travels take them under highway overpasses, through sprawling train yards and along long rows of wind turbines. Global warming is mentioned only once, but it hovers over their uncertain future. They make their way across baren, dry lands and industrial blight. The name of that party is no coincidence.

Bleak as that may be, “Gasoline Rainbow” — which would fit comfortably alongside films like Alma Har’el’s “Bombay Beach” and Andrea Arnold’s “American Honey” — is most concerned with the question of: So what now? For these young people, unsure of what to do with their lives, getting out on the road provides plenty of answers. The world they’ve been left by older generations may be damaged. “Do you know what the difference is between kids and adults?” one elder tells them. “Adults aren’t supervised.” But there is beauty to be found, like shimmering pools of gasoline, if you’re willing to hit the road and make some new friends.

The answer lies most in community — in daring to leave the house, meet strangers and find like-minded souls. Perhaps more than anything, the Ross brothers — with a keen eye for American eccentrics — are interested in gathering together all the most interesting people they can find. And the spirit of camaraderie that results warms just as much as the bonfires gathered round in “Gasoline Rainbow.”

“Gasoline Rainbow,” a Mubi release, is not rated by the Motion Picture Association. Running time: 110 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

‘Gasoline Rainbow’ Review: Five Zoomers Hit the Road to Put Off Growing Up in an Endearing, Semi-Improvised Indie

Corralling a quintet of young actors, Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross’ radical filmmaking approach is worth the trip but doesn’t quite manage to cast a spell.

By J. Kim Murphy

J. Kim Murphy

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Everybody’s trying to get to the End of the World — or at least a party spot called that — in “ Gasoline Rainbow ,” a road trip independent feature that follows a group of zoomer besties on their fantastical send-off to adolescence. The Mubi release, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last fall, sees directing brothers Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross applying their semi-improvised production stylings to five teenage actors: a compelling technique that doesn’t manage to fully satisfy its appetite for behavioral observation.

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It’s a warm, uncomplicated characterization that forecasts a lot of easy riding. “Gasoline Rainbow” fully indulges in its leads’ carefree attitude. Even as they wander through the desert or covertly hitch a ride on a freight train, their safety never seems in even the slightest jeopardy. The world is their backyard. Despite the film’s observational visual approach, a guiding hand can often be felt moving the teens from place to place — a protectiveness that comes from the heart, but also quickly limits the film to a wispy, mystical register. Most of the places the teens pass through seem transient and few of the friendly strangers they meet — punk runaways and traveling skateboarders and other wild things — make an impression.

That surrender to naivety is also the essential charm of “Gasoline Rainbow,” as well as its narrative spine, with the teens’ giddy pull toward the party at the End of the World, mythologized in passing by nearly everyone they encounter. The friends’ drive to keep up the good vibes despite some logistical complications clues into how these speed bumps are preferable to the worse apocalypse that they are delaying. As one of the girls puts it, “When we come back, we all have to get fucking jobs.” The vacation reaches a poignant final stretch with an oceanside, fourth-wall-breaking finale practically, but effectively, ripped from “The 400 Blows” — the New Wave coming-of-age grand-daddy to “Gasoline Rainbow.” With it, the Ross brothers’ film asks the same question for this new generation: Childhood is over. Now what?

Reviewed at Sepulveda Screening Room, Los Angeles, April 24, 2024. In Venice, SXSW film festivals. Running time: 108 MIN.

• Production: A Mubi release of a Department of Motion Pictures, Mubi, XTR production. Producers: Michael Gottwald, Carlos Zozaya. Executive producers: Efe Cakarel, Jason Ropell, Bobby Allen, Bryn Mooser, Kathryn Everett, Justin Lacob, Andrew Hsieh, Matt Sargeant, Josh Penn. Co-producers: Claire Haley, Joanne Feinberg, Olivia West Lloyd.
• Crew: Directors, camera, editors: Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross. Music: Casey McCallister.
• With: Makai Garza, Micah Bunch, Nichole Dukes, Nathaly Garcia, Tony Aburto.

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