Editorial Product Review:Amazon.com:The Dan Wakefield novel upon which this film was based has been hailed by critics as another
Catcher in the Rye, but you wouldn't know that from this unenlightening adaptation. Jeremy Davies (
Saving Private Ryan) plays a superneurotic, Korean War veteran who develops an unlikely friendship with another, Neal Cassady-like vet (Ben Affleck) as well as a taste in art, New York City, and college girls. The trouble with the film is that it refuses to yield important information about its central figure. Davies's character has some kind of undefined problem with his mother, religion, ambition, masturbation, and much else, but without access to his internal dialogue, we only see him as a twitchy insect for whom regular sex with a beautiful girlfriend inexplicably does nothing for his ego. Don't blame Davies: he does this nerve-damaged bit all the time, and in the hands of a good director his performances are controlled and economical (see
Spanking the Monkey). However, his director on
Going All the Way--Mark Pellington--has no idea of how to shape the actor's abilities.
--Tom Keogh
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Buyer Reviews
Average Buyer Rating:
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Disappointing
The book was one of the most funny I've read, and the film just didn't do it justice. One improvement is that Sonny's character is much sweeter and more likeable in the film than in the book, but the finer points of the story have been lost. The part about the beard, for example, which wasn't just very touching, and funny, but incredibly shocking to someone born in 1964 and had never known a time when beards were downright subversive! All the actors were excellent--but more of the book could have been written into the film.
Also, to a previous reviewer, the time frame of the story is in the early '50's--they were NOT returning from the Vietnam War! The Korean War was in the early '50's; the Vietnam War didn't begin till 1964!
Customer Rating: 
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Fine film, but I hate that generic title
Sonny Burns (Jeremy Davies) and Gunnar Casselman (Ben Affleck) are two young men who strike up an acquaintance on their way home from the war in Korea. As students at the same high school, Sonny, the neurotic introvert, and Gunnar, the Golden Boy athlete, moved in entirely different circles. Now, following the life-changing experience of the war, this odd couple is able to provide much needed support for each other as they resist sliding back into the same old routine. Unlike Gunnar's hard-drinking, partying high school buddies, Sonny takes Gunnar's newly-found, "inner-directed" (as he calls it), philosophical side seriously. Gunnar provides vital support and advice as Sonny tries to overcome the crippling neuroses that make it so difficult for him to relate to the opposite sex and break away from his controlling parents. The entire cast is excellent, but Davies really excels as the imploding, desperate Sonny./
Customer Rating: -
A film with real depths to it
The lowdown:
Going All the Way is a touching story about learning to let go, coming to terms with yourself, love, and the power of friendship between two young men whose relationship "is the core of the movie," says MTV Award-winning music video director Mark Pellington, whose debut film shows that he clearly knows what he's doing, and that his talents can be set on more than one profession. Pellington tackles the challenge of presenting two authentic young men who we can relate to, and passes with flying colours.
Jeremy Davies is perfect for these kinds of rolls, where he plays a shy, secretive, insecure young man trapped in a boy's body, who's trying to escape his parent's domination... having played two such intriguing rolls in one year, in Going All the Way and in John Patrick Kelley's equally enchanting and moving (but ultimately a little too broody) The Locusts. And although at war with his parents, he also wants to try and make up for all the lonely years he spent in high school masturbating over fevered fantasies beyond the reach of fulfillment. I mean, sure he's got Buddy (just the name makes me cringe) but she's much too available and overall not the sort of woman out of his skin mags who'll sweep him off his feet. Sonny Burns' life is enough to drive anyone to the rubber room, and you truly share his pain. At times, it may have seemed as though he has finally reached that flight of stairs, merely to once again find himself at the very bottom of where he started, of his ultimate goal... to happiness. Jeremy's brooding, partially-mumbled performance perfectly captures his underlying disarray, insecurities, and anger. The thing that's so unique about him is that, while he'll make you sympathise for his suffering at times, he can be so funny at others, that he'll also make you laugh like there's no tomorrow; not many actors have the capability to do that.
This may not be the film that claimed Ben Affleck to fame (Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy was) but it sure was enough of one to really get him noticed (after that, it was no more playing the vileness bully for this guy, I'll tell ya that right now). The man's very presence commands the screen. You watch him, and he's just so cool and casual, that you feel as though he's not even acting at all; he's an expert. When you observe his character, Gunner Casselman, you basically have to look through his physical features, because that rebellious, tough-guy looking image he's given doesn't really say a lot about him since his visit to Japan. We see him depart from his rowdy old high school buddies in a bar to hang around with little old Sonny (even Sonny himself was surprised, as we were, seconds prior to them leaving the scene, driven to a surreal trip inside his head and learned that he thought he was being made fun of), who he'll drag along to art galleries and also take pictures with since Sonny shared his love of picture taking with him. When I look at Gunner, what I see is a hunk with a heart of gold and a fresh outlook on life, who's really begun to discover himself and whose goal is to go to New York because that's not only where he thinks a future career awaits him but it's also a place where he won't have to deal with his naggy mother and her discrimination against his Jewish girlfriend (and Jews in general). I also perceive that he's quite impressed by Sonny, thinking that, while he scored all those touchdowns and lured the girls with his bod and charm back in his high school years, he was an intellectual, when really he spent those very years masturbating if not watching him with awe.
Aside from the catchy oldies tunes, I really enjoyed the dialogue the two young men shared with one another, which was as absorbing as it is true. Among all, one in particular comes to mind, where Gunner was trying to prove a point that "peach pie is fine, but that's all you get? I mean, morning, noon, and night, peach pie? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, peach pie. Peach pie, day in, day out. Day in, peach pie." Jeremy and Ben were terrific together. As improbable a coalition as their character's had, I thought that they, nonetheless, had perfect chemistry together, and were very enjoyable to watch.
Going All the Way is based upon Dan Wakefield's enormously popular novel (one of my favourites, as a matter of fact). Mark Pellington read it at the early age of thirteen after he discovered it sitting in his father's shelf, and immediately fell in love with it. Sixteen years later, he showed his love with the making of the film, which I thank him for, because it's one of a kind. It's a film with real depths to it, that is of a true depiction of the male mind.
Customer Rating: 
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Very Insightful
This film about the friendship of two very different men was extroadinary. My hat's off to the director, Mark Pellington, he will most certainly be one of the top ten directors in Hollywood in the very near future. In fact, I think he's there already. It's a must see film.
