Paradise Highway

8/26/2022

Paradise Highway is a knockoff of A Perfect World with Morgan Freeman, Juliette Binoche, and Cameron Monaghan in the Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner, and Laura Dern roles (respectively), and with Frank Grillo thrown in for good measure — except that the measure in which he’s thrown is not good enough. This is exactly the kind of throwaway thriller that constitutes Grillo’s accustomed stomping grounds; the problem is that he’s not allowed to stomp at leisure. Reduced to a glorified cameo, the movie shoots itself in the foot by giving the person who’s most comfortable in these environs the least amount of screen time. That, plus the unsound climax that leads to the obligatory sappy, happy ending, all but ruin any chances the film might have had of telling an engaging story. That leaves