The End of the Tour 2015

     The story of the interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and novelist David Foster Wallace that lasted five days.  The time was 1996 right after the publication of Wallace’s novel, Infinite Jest.  Lipsky is staying with Wallace and following him doing readings to publicize the novel.

     I found it unusual that after the major effort both for Lipsky and Wallace, the interview was never published and the audiotapes were packed away in Lipsky’s closet.  They never met again and the film is based on Lipsky’s memoir about this encounter using the tapes.  Lipsky began writing the novel after the 2008 suicide death of Wallace.  A caveat about this film is that it is not a biography of Wallace and it doesn’t promote or discuss his novel.  I wonder if the real crux of the interview and the resulting novel written by Lipsky are a type of riding the coattails of Wallace for self-promotion and profit?  You have nothing of your own so you take from someone successful and they aren't able to challenge your efforts?  I had a hard time getting through this film because it is mainly Segal and Eisenberg conversing for 106 minutes?  2* (I didn’t like this movie)

106 min, Drama directed by James Ponsoldt with Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Anna Chlumsky, Joan Cusack, Mamie Gummer, Ron Livingston, Mickey Sumner, Becky Ann Baker.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 91% critic 83% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*.

Special Note:  This movie was filmed in Michigan, Minnesota and Massachusetts.  The novel Infinite Jest is lengthy and complex about a junior tennis academy and a nearby substance-abuse recovery center.