Jason Segal's portrayal of David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour was key to the success of the film, but he did not pull it off. I watched the movie never having seen or heard the real David Foster Wallace, and only having just started reading Infinite Jest. I could not accept Segal's performance, despite wanting to embrace a movie that put forth thoughts and ideas worthy of consideration. With Jesse Eisenberg in the movie, I was also reminded of The Social Network, which might not have been a perfect impersonation of Mark Zuckerberg, but it did not need to be, because that version of Zuckerberg still came off like a real person.
After the movie I looked at David Foster Wallace's appearance on Charlie Rose. It did not take long to come to the conclusion that here was a complex and very interesting person whose was communicating advanced ideas but in a sometimes inhibited and certainly awkward fashion. I believe that "advanced and inhibited" was what Segal was trying to do. Unfortunately Segal's version of Wallace was a character rather than a person.
The movie took dramatic license with the whole "failed writer" aspect of David Lipsky. This is a guy who received praise from Raymond Carver at an early age, and while his novel The Art Fair, featured prominently in the movie, might not have been a best seller, it did receive an abundance of praise in literary circles. Most writers would kill for a start to a career as good as David Lipsky's.
It is not easy to adapt a story that comprises mostly a lot of talky back and forth between two characters over a five day span. Ponsoldt did a competent job, but the movie still came off as a bit stagey.
Moving Midway was a pleasant diversion, if that description is appropriate for a film that revolves around themes of race. The older people (including the guy who sold the land) were especially a hoot, making me wish more of their footage was included.
The third film of Roy "King of the Long Take" Andersson's trilogy, A Pigeon...--also the third film of the trilogy to play Ebertfest--was more of the same. What that means is I kinda loved it, though the sometimes tedious pacing of the film could induce napping for those prone to that.
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