Land Ho!
Directed by: Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens
Written by: Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens
Starring: Earl Lynn Nelson, Paul Eenhoorn, Karrie Crouse, Elizabeth McKee, Alice Olivia Clarke
Adventure/Comedy - 95 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 16 June 2014
Written by: Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens
Starring: Earl Lynn Nelson, Paul Eenhoorn, Karrie Crouse, Elizabeth McKee, Alice Olivia Clarke
Adventure/Comedy - 95 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 16 June 2014
Road trip movies aim at a specific goal; sometimes it’s just geographic while other times they are the catalyst for self-improvement. Folks imagine they may ‘find’ themselves out there while some seek to lose themselves. Whether the travelers are searching for something tangible or more spiritual, they almost always create circumstances to keep the audience’s interest; their journey forms a story. In Land Ho!, two elderly gentlemen travel across Icelandic landscapes but fail to mold a corresponding story. They are merely on a documented trip with some amusing conversations.
Mitch (Earl Lynn Nelson) drags a hesitant Colin (Paul Eenhoorn) away from moping in his sorrowful trough due to marital troubles. Mitch and Colin are ex-brothers-in-law by way of marrying a pair of sisters many decades ago and have kept up their on-and-off friendship over the years. Mitch does not ask Colin if he would like to go to Iceland because he already knows the answer to that question. Funding the trip himself, Mitch knows Colin will accompany him with the magic phrase ‘non-refundable.’
Mitch (Earl Lynn Nelson) drags a hesitant Colin (Paul Eenhoorn) away from moping in his sorrowful trough due to marital troubles. Mitch and Colin are ex-brothers-in-law by way of marrying a pair of sisters many decades ago and have kept up their on-and-off friendship over the years. Mitch does not ask Colin if he would like to go to Iceland because he already knows the answer to that question. Funding the trip himself, Mitch knows Colin will accompany him with the magic phrase ‘non-refundable.’
A recently retired surgeon, Mitch is a head-strong, blunt, and over-powering personality. He will ask honeymooners how many times they have consummated their marriage and act surprised when they do not answer. He also walks around armed with a crude and sometimes very raunchy vocabulary. Most items in life including steak, landscape features, and modern art are compared and contrasted with various parts of the female anatomy. Mitch earns the film’s best one-liners especially one standing in front of a painting where Colin pontificates about religious anguish. Mitch sees Stevie Nicks.
Next to Mitch, Colin is reserved, introspective, and cautious. Even if they are not, most people would come off this way if they were standing next to Mitch. Colin is in the role of supporting partner and provides reactionary responses because Mitch funds their travels. Colin may gripe and grouse only so much before he teeters on ungratefulness which limits his instinctive emotive double-takes. As there is inevitably a less interesting character in road trip adventures, Colin defaults to this role through no fault of his own. It is hard to imagine a situation in life Mitch has never outright dominated.
Cruising around Iceland in what is most likely the country’s only Hummer, the two gents explore the capital and its surrounding tourist attractions before they head out into the eastern frontier. There is a foodie undercurrent to the plot as they verbally dissect more than one meal but otherwise, there are just a series of conversations rehashing the past and probing present problems. As more time passes, the audience keeps expecting something to happen, some plot point or episode which will wake up the film from its steady-state pace. Yet this moment never arrives.
Land Ho! is not clever enough to slide by on its dialogue like a superior, similar movie such as The Trip (2011) does. Co-writers and directors Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens never quite take their foot off the brake to let these guys roam free. Situations set in a Reykjavik night club or when the duo is lost in pitch black, middle of nowhere backcountry are primed for a memorable event or at least a moment the audience may take away with them. Yet as they pass by, Land Ho! ensures nobody is going to recall it shortly after it ends.
Land Ho! is likeable enough for its lead characters, but forgettable and inconsequential are more fitting descriptions. Earl Lynn Nelson as Mitch is amusing, especially with his sometimes shocking mouth, but I am glad I only had to sit with him through a relatively short film; travelling with him would require the patience of a far more virtuous man.
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