LEGACY NOTES // A FILM REVIEW OF "CAS & DYLAN"
A great road trip movie should take you on a journey. After all, they're on a journey so why shouldn't you be? For every great movie like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles or National Lampoon's Vacation, there's been multiple flops like Due Date or Wild Hogs. Jason Preistley (yes, THAT Jason Preistley from Beverly Hills 90210 fame) makes his directorial debut with yet another road trip comedy of errors, CAS & DYLAN. And although it often stays in neutral when it should be jetting forward, there are several moments that truly shine (mostly courtesy of a game Tatiana Maslany).
Richard Dreyfuss plays Dr. Cas Pepper (thankfully with only one or two Dr. Pepper jokes). At the beginning of the film he finds out that he has an inoperable brain tumor. He doesn't want to go through all of that pain alone so he makes the decision to kill himself. So he hit the road, jumping in his car with his dead dog (on ice, obviously) to find a final resting place for them both. Maslany (the talented lead of Orphan Black) plays Dylan Morgan, a free spirited, no nonsense type who Cas picks up and drops off at her home. He realizes after he leaves that she's left her notebook in his car. So he heads back to return it to her and accidentally runs down her angry boyfriend (as you do). Dylan jumps in Cas's car and they take off in a hurry. Dylan convinces him that they're now both going to be in deep trouble after killing her boyfriend so they hit the road and don't look back. Well, at least for a while.
Dylan is heading to Vancouver to meet up with a publishing house who's interested in her work. See, she fancies herself a writer, although she hasn't really written anything of note, but is convinced that this meeting with a Publisher will be her chance to break out of her ordinary life and shine. Cas at first can't stand her, asking her to not talk at all, but as you might have guessed, they both warm up to each other and Cas helps Dylan with her writing obstacles while Dylan helps Cas with his Suicide Note. Or as he likes to call it, "Legacy Note."
Priestly, who directs a script from Jessie Gabe, does an admiral job setting up this run of the mill story, wisely highlighting the dark patches from Gabe's script (the suicide storyline and the dead dog are non common and welcome additions). Gabe's script is perfectly enjoyable, not really saying anything truly original until the final act, which instead of building to a typical "I'll save you from your suicide" heads down a darker and more meaningful ending. Dreyfuss is solid as the cranky Cass Pepper, and adds a layer of warmth to his gradual connection to Dylan. However the movie's real charm is Dylan herself. Maslany steals every single scene with an arsenal of charm and a heartwarming smile. She's very much the opposite of the clone character’s she plays on TV and that's a good thing. Here she plays with a relatable character that you can't help but root for even as she lies her way into Cas's road trip. And she sells every bit of the finale, showing how much she's grown thankful that Cas came into her life.
Yes it's often cheesy and often predictable, but it's never annoyingly bad (cough... Due Date... cough). And as I've said earlier, the final act is well worth waiting around for. Cas & Dylan may not win an award for complete originality, but it has its heart in the right place. And a dead dog in the cooler.
MATEO'S GRADE: B
Written by Jessie Gabe Directed by Jason Priestley Starring Tatiana Maslany, Richard Dreyfuss
Now in select theatres and On Demand.
MATEO MORENO recently won a bet on who could hold their breath the longest underwater. He won the bet, having beat local loudmouth Jimmy "Thunderbird" Thomas with a record breaking "fourteen minutes." True, part of that time was him unconscious and the other part was him being revived, but he still counts it, and is now $20 richer. Take THAT Thunderbird! He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.