Review: The End of Oak Street

David Robert Mitchell's The End of Oak Street knows exactly what kind of film it wants to be, and commits to it completely. A 1980s cul-de-sac gets torn loose from reality by a cosmic event and dropped somewhere considerably more hostile, and what follows plays like an affectionate, R-rated homage to the Amblin adventures this cast grew up on, minus any interest in outgrowing that influence.

Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor lead as parents forced to hold their family together, and both are clearly enjoying the swing the material gives them. The film doesn't lean on CGI spectacle the way most studio tentpoles do this time of year; the effects work is used with more restraint than the premise suggests, and the practical, character-first staging makes the bigger set pieces land harder when they do arrive.

Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor lead as parents forced to hold their family together, and both are clearly enjoying the swing the material gives them.

It doesn't entirely know what it wants to be beyond that homage, and a couple of stretches feel unsure whether they're playing the danger straight or for laughs. But at 99 minutes, it never overstays its welcome, and the sheer commitment from its cast carries it past its rougher edges. On a weekend crowded with two considerably heavier Hindi releases, it's the one that's simply the most fun to sit through.