The Open Road is a 2009 comedy-drama film written and directed by Michael Meredith. It stars Justin Timberlake, Kate Mara, Jeff Bridges, and Mary Steenburgen and was produced by Anchor Bay Entertainment. Country singer Lyle Lovett and Harry Dean Stanton are also among the cast. Filming began in Hammond, Louisiana in February 2008, and continued in Memphis, Tennessee, at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi, Texas, Houston, Texas and elsewhere in the southern United States. The film received a limited release on August 28, 2009.

Plot

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The movie centers on Carlton Garrett, the adult son of baseball legend Kyle Garrett and a minor-league baseball player with the Corpus Christi, Texas Hooks. One night, after another game in which he continues to slump at the plate, Carlton gets a phone call from his grandfather Amon, who tells him that Carlton s mother, Katherine has fallen ill and is at the hospital. Katherine requires a surgery that the doctors recommend; however she refuses to sign the waiver until Kyle comes to visit her. After Carlton agrees to find his estranged father, together with his ex-girlfriend Lucy, the two of them fly to Columbus, Ohio to break the news to Kyle, who is there for an autograph signing and doesn t have a cell phone.

After a tense meeting, in which it s revealed that Carlton and Kyle haven t seen or spoken to each other in five years, Kyle agrees to fly to Texas to see Katherine with his son and Lucy. The next morning, while preparing to get through airport security, Kyle realizes that he s lost his wallet and hence his identification, therefore he s not allowed to board the flight. Lucy suggests that the three of them rent a car and drive. While at a gas station one evening, Kyle asks Lucy to bring him his bag which contain painkillers for his various aches. Lucy notices Kyle s wallet in the bag, revealing that Kyle intentionally misplaced his wallet in hopes of not having to get on the plane and thus not make the trip; Lucy keeps this discovery a secret from Carlton.

As the trip progresses, Carlton and Kyle attempt to piece-together their fragile relationship. Also, Lucy tells Carlton that she s engaged to a new man; this creates a tension between the two, as their love towards each other remains. Many delays occur, as Kyle becomes increasingly anxious about seeing Katherine and becomes more and more unreliable. He seems to make up for this, however, when he tells Carlton and Lucy that he knows someone who works at the Memphis airport who can get him through security without I.D. While waiting for their flight, Kyle tells Carlton that the employee he knows doesn t exist and it was a cover-up story. Carlton realizes that Kyle has had his wallet the entire time and has purposely been delaying the trip. He angrily storms off to talk to Lucy, leaving Kyle unattended. After an argument with Lucy, whom he finds out knew about the wallet the whole time, he returns to where Kyle was sitting to find him missing. Carlton and Lucy get on the flight anyway and Carlton exits the flight to look for his father but not before telling Lucy that if he doesn t come back before takeoff, to get off the plane. Mad at Carlton and their argument, Lucy decides to stay on the plane anyway and she flies home; Carlton is also unsuccessful in finding Kyle. Carlton calls Katherine and she tells him that if his father is anywhere in Memphis, he d be at The Peabody Hotel downtown.

When Carlton arrives at the hotel he finds out from the front desk that no one by the name of Kyle Garrett has checked-in. Tired at this point, Carlton takes a room for the night. Later that evening, during a conversation with the Peabody Hotel bartender, the bartender tells him that Kyle Garrett is indeed staying in the hotel but under an alias. Furious, Carlton confronts Kyle in Kyle s room. After forcing himself in, Carlton and Kyle wrestle each other to the ground, where Kyle tells Carlton that he loves Katherine but loves himself even more. Soon Kyle agrees to continue with the trip. The next day Carlton gets a phone call: Katherine has gotten an infection and the doctors have been forced to operate earlier than expected.

Carlton, Kyle, Amon and Carlton s grandmother Virge wait anxiously in the hospital waiting room. Soon Lucy shows up and she and Carlton reconcile. The doctor comes out and tells the family that the operation was a success. The next morning, while still at the hospital, Carlton tells Lucy that he s quitting baseball to focus on becoming a writer and Lucy tells Carlton that she s not a fiancee anymore. At this point it s assumed that the two have gotten back together. Carlton drives Kyle to the airport, where Kyle agrees to come visit on New Year s and Carlton agrees to visit Kyle for Christmas. The ending scene shows Carlton clearing out his baseball locker and walking to his vehicle, where Lucy is waiting for him. The two drive off together.

Cast

• Jeff Bridges as Kyle Garrett
• Justin Timberlake as Carlton Garrett
• Mary Steenburgen as Katherine Garrett
• Kate Mara as Lucy
• Harry Dean Stanton as Amon
• Lyle Lovett as a Bartender
• Ted Danson (cameo) as Coach
• Billy Slaughter as Rental Car Employee

Year	2009
ReleaseDate	2009-08-28
RuntimeMins	90
RuntimeStr	1h 30min
Plot	A man embarks on a road trip with his girlfriend and estranged baseball legend dad.
Directors	Michael Meredith
Writers	Michael Meredith
Stars	Justin Timberlake, Ted Danson, Harry Dean Stanton
Produced by	Deborah Del Prete,Jordan Foley,Kevin Lee Foxx,Laurie Foxx,Jonathan Gray,Jason Hewitt,Heidi Levitt,Roy Scott MacFarland,Charlie Mason,Michael Meredith,Justin Moore-Lewy,Brigitte Mueller,Gigi Pritzker,David L. Schiff,Suzanne Unrein,Wim Wenders
Music by	Christopher Lennertz
Cinematography by	Yaron Orbach
Film Editing by	Suzy Elmiger
Casting By	Heidi Levitt,Kim Petrosky
Production Design by	Paki Smith
Art Direction by	Frank Zito
Set Decoration by	Julie Ochipinti
Costume Design by	Molly Grundman
Makeup Department	Carla Brenholtz,Thomas Nellen,Susan ‘Star’ Orr,Scott H. Reeder,Amy Wood
Production Management	Luca Borghese,Brion Hambel
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Aaron Barsky,Sean O’Regan,Katey Wheelhouse
Art Department	Cecile Aymami,Paul Blanchard,Beau Harrison,Elizabeth Herberg,Juliana Hoffpauir,Ty Landry,Leonard Marchand,Scotty Morris,Michael O’Sullivan,Christopher Ryan Paul,Markus Wittmann
Sound Department	Wade Barnett,Kelly Cabral,Melissa A. Corns,Chris David,Dan Izen,Betsy Lindell,Aynee Osborn,Chris Reynolds,Gabriel J. Serrano,Eric Thompson
Visual Effects by	Jon Greenhalgh,Alex Jacobs,Michael Kaelin,Chris Kirkpatrick
Stunts	Dan Brown,Loyd Catlett,Chad Guerrero
Camera and Electrical Department	Gerard Bartley,Craig Carter,Oswald Colunga,Christopher Crowther,Rusty Davis,Tracy Facelli,Anne Marie Fox,Jordan Lapsansky,Josh Malloy,Gerard Martin,Chris Quackenbush,Kennith G. Smith,Robert A. Sutton,Newton TerMeer,Theodore Thyssen,Gary Tolbert,Brett Walters,Louis Zlotowicz
Casting Department	Brent Caballero,Lauren Fernandes
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Christy Hebert,Olivia Hill,Pamela Lee Incardona,Gia Jimenez,Diana Savone,Carmen Thompson,Lesley D. Wickham
Editorial Department	Roger Doran,Justine Halliday,Gordon Holmes,Nick Houy,Ian Kezsbom,Mathieu Reid,Mark Smirnoff,Amber Taylor,Kathy Thomson
Location Management	Les Arceneaux,Brandon Sonny DeSorbo,Martin Lane,Robert Saba,Phil Seifert
Music Department	Christian Dwiggins,Dan Evans Farkas,Nick Fevola,Daniel Hubbert,Gary Liu,Michael Lloyd,Charlie Sexton,Jeff Vaughn,Jay Weigel,Philip White
Script and Continuity Department	Sandy Parker
Transportation Department	Doug Dovichi,Vinny Dovichi,Mitch Masoner,Willie D. Partin
Additional Crew	Jamie Abramowitz,Clay Achee,Brenda Arson,Eric Burrows,Jared Callan,Abigail Carpenter,Gregory Cassin,Loyd Catlett,Carmen Chan,Nicole Compas,Todd Crockett,André Des Rochers,Earl Gabbidon,Emily Gannett,Jonathan Gray,Micah Haley,Robin Hardy,Rachael Harrell,Jeffrey J. Hartwick,Mandi Hicks,Ronnie Joseph Higgins,Rachel Jacob,Brandon Kerr,Amy Law,Kevin Lorio,Paula P. Manzanedo,Nat McCormick,Richard McDonough,Aaron Michiel,Jasmine Mohamed,Susan Neal,Ryan Nichols,Brian O’Shea,Erika Pahk,Nick Reasons,Brandon Rohwer,Weiman Seid,Jenna Spesard,Barbara-Ann Stein,Ian M. Stratford,Craig Thompson,Heather Tyler,Sharyn Umaña,Nancy Valle,Alice Wang,Christopher H. Warner,Brianne Watson,Kaysie Wilkinson,Jessy Cale Williamson,Rachel Yarbrough,Wei-Ning Yu
Thanks	Steve Buscemi,Jeremy Davidson,Daniel Duro,Atom Egoyan,Steven Garcia,Carlin Glynn,John Hadity,Avram ‘Butch’ Kaplan,Neil LaBute,Marco Londoner,Alexandra Masterson,Mary Stuart Masterson,Peter Masterson,James McMurtry,Robert Rodriguez,Thom Zadra
Genres	Comedy, Drama
Companies	MWM Studios, Perfect Weekend, Aqua Foxx Productions
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	PG-13
ImDbRating	5.5
ImDbRatingVotes	3583
MetacriticRating	47
Keywords	corpus christi texas,columbus ohio,family relationships,falling in love,road trip