An attempt to capture an era (and a song)

Steve Liu

This film centers around Woody Guthrie's son and his trials and tribulations growing up. Arlo Guthrie wanders across the country, playing his music and visiting friends. He winds up with adult friends Ray and Alice, who are adult in age only. From there, the film seems to wander more than Arlo does.

Alice's Restaurant mainly attempts to capture the essence of the 60's. Firmly anti-establishment, the main characters are hard to sympathize with. In general, I feel it is not a great idea to base a film on a song.

There are entertaining points of the film, to be sure. The army recruitment center is a humorous look at the draft. Much of Arlo's narrative is witty and the familiar twang of his story telling voice makes it work. The plot, however, is lacking. The film seems to go on for too long and winds up smack in the middle of nowhere. At nearly two hours, it is a bit long winded as well, although it says nearly nothing. The ending leaves something to be desired. Feelings toward the characters are often mixed and unclear. Not a bad song, not a good film.

I gave this film a 2 out of 10. It was entertaining at points, but lacked artistic and technical snap. The story was non-existent, characters weak, and relationships confusing. The song is great though. Don't go out of your way to see this film, you won't really miss much.

score 2/10

Steve Liu 24 November 1999

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0105881/