(2007) Director Terry George co-wrote the screen adaptation from John Burnham Schwartz's novel of this movie constructed from implausible coincidences.

Professor Ethan Learner (Joaquin Phoenix) and his family - wife Grace (Jennifer Connelly), ten-year-old son Josh, and 5th-grade daughter Emma - are returning at night in their car from a children's concert where Josh had played cello when they make a rest stop and Josh gets out of the car to release fireflies trapped in a jar. Coming from a Red Sox game in Boston, Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) and his son Lucas approach Windham Harbor, Connecticut, on Reservation Road when Dwight reaches for his cell phone, swerves to avoid on-coming lights, and strikes Josh on the side of the road. Momentarily hesitating, Dwight speeds off, leaving behind a dead boy and a grieving family.

Apologizing for being late (the game went into extra innings), Dwight returns Lucas after their once-a-week visitation to the boy's mother, formerly his wife, Ruth Wheldon (Mira Sorvino), explaining the black eye as a result of Lucas's striking his head on the dashboard when the vehicle hit a log in the road.

First coincidence, Dwight and Ethan reside in the same town. Second coincidence, Ruth was Josh's music teacher and teaches Emma piano lessons. Third coincidence, Ethan hires Dwight as a lawyer to help with finding the perpetrator of the hit-and-run. Fourth coincidence, after Lucas gets into a fight with another kid in school because the kid threw a water balloon at the teacher resulting in his being accused with the other who wouldn't fess up, Lucas says to his dad that Paulie was "a no-good coward."

Fifth coincidence, haunted with guilt, Dwight goes to the police station to turn himself in; but the police sergeant, thinking the lawyer is just checking on the case, says there's "not much to go on," unless someone decides to turn himself in, before hurrying off to attend to other business. Sixth coincidence, weeks after the hit-and-run, following a school concert where Emma played piano ("Can you hear music if you're in heaven?"), Ethan sees Dwight in the dark wearing a baseball cap, triggering recognition of the driver of the SUV at Reservation Road.

Doing research on the Internet, Ethan communicates in chat rooms with other family members of victims, one of whom says: "There is no justice in the court system. There's only the law." If the hit-and-run driver can be found, the full extent of the law, depending on circumstances, at most would result in a ten-year prison sentence.

Obsessed with finding his son's killer, Ethan begins investigating on his own and purchases a pistol. All the while his marriage is coming apart; Grace says: "Ethan, I don't know how to get you back." For all its incredulous connections among the characters, the conclusion took me by surprise.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Patrick Ivers can be reached via e-mail at .