''Ride'' is a 2014 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

written and directed by

Helen Hunt Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. Hunt rose to fame portraying Ja ...

. The film stars Hunt,

Luke Wilson Luke Cunningham Wilson (born September 21, 1971) is an American actor known for his roles in films such as ''Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), ''My Dog Skip'' (2000), '' Legally Blonde'' (2001), ''The Royal Tenenbaums'' (2001), ''Id ...

Brenton Thwaites Brenton Thwaites (born 10 August 1989) is an Australian actor. Beginning his career in his home country in 2011, he had a starring role on the series ''Slide'' and later appeared on the soap opera ''Home and Away''. Since moving to the United S ...

and

Leonor Varela Leonor Magdalena Varela Palma (; born 29 December 1972) is a Chilean actress. She played the title role in the 1999 television film ''Cleopatra'', and vampire princess Nyssa Damaskinos in the 2002 Marvel Comics film '' Blade II''. Early lif ...

. The film had a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

in theaters and was released on

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

beginning on May 1, 2015 by

Screen Media Films Screen Media Ventures, LLC. is an American-Canadian distribution company founded in 2001. In 2008, Screen Media selected The Creative Coalition as its exclusive nonprofit partner in launching the Spotlight Initiative. The partnership permits the p ...

Premise

A mother travels cross-country to California to be with her son after he decides to drop out of school and become a surfer.

Cast

as Jackie *

as Ian *

as Angelo *

as Danielle * David Zayas as Ramon *

Richard Kind Richard Bruce Kind (born November 22, 1956) is an American actor and comedian, known for his roles as Dr. Mark Devanow in ''Mad About You'' (1992–1999, 2019), Paul Lassiter in ''Spin City'' (1996–2002), Andy in ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' (2002 ...

as Boss * Mike White as Roger * Jay Huguley as Co-Worker *

Callum Keith Rennie Callum Keith Rennie (born 14 September 1960) is a British-born Canadian actor who started his career in Canadian film and television projects, where his portrayal of Stanley Raymond Kowalski on the television series '' Due South'' was his firs ...

as Tim * Danielle Lauder as Karen

Production

On July 30, 2013, ''

Deadline Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to: * Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain * ''Deadline'' (magazine), a British ...

'' reported that

would star, direct and produce her script of a surf film ''Ride''. She produced the film with Greg Little and Lizzie Friedman. Upon closing of the distribution rights with

, it was announced that the film would be dedicated to her father and the film's surf-photographer

Sonny Miller Sonny Miller (July 18, 1960 – July 8, 2014) was an American cinematographer and waterman specializing in surfing and nature photography. He achieved success filming surfing related dramas, ''In God's Hands'' (1998). ''Riding Giants'' (2004), ' ...

after his passing in 2014. In 2015, Hunt memorialised her friend and their experiences filming the surfing scenes in, "Sonny Miller's Lesson for Us All: 'Nature Dictates'", for ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''.

Filming

The shooting of the film ''Ride'' began on August 5, 2013, at

Venice Beach Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

Release

In September 2014, it was announced

had acquired distribution rights for the film with a planned 2015 release. The film had its world premiere at the AFM on November 8, 2014. The film also premiered at the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in i ...

on April 25, 2015. The film was released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in a

and through

on May 1, 2015.

Reception

''Ride'' received mixed reviews from critics. , the film holds a 50% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 32 reviews with an average score of 5.97/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Ride'' reaffirms Helen Hunt's immense acting talent -- but suggests that she still needs time to develop as a director." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a score of 48 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{tcmdb title, 2006873, Ride 2014 films 2014 drama films American comedy-drama films American surfing films Films shot in Los Angeles Films directed by Helen Hunt Films about dysfunctional families Films about mother–son relationships 2010s English-language films 2010s American films