Go Further

Amazon.com

In Natural Born Killers, Woody Harrelson played a mass murderer on a road trip killing spree. In Go Further, Harrelson has returned to the road, this time as himself, and this time he's out to save the earth. The film documents a trip down the Pacific coast Harrelson and assorted friends took in the summer of 2001 in a bio-diesel and hemp oil-fueled bus. Along the way they tackled various stretches by bike, did a lot of yoga, spoke in front of college crowds about environmental awareness, ate avocado-based delicacies prepared by the on-board raw foods chef, and encountered rock stars like Bob Weir, Natalie Merchant, and Anthony Kiedis. Your run of the mill road trip, in other words. Harrelson's buddy, the junk food addict Steve Clark emerges as the star, if stardom means the ability to expound on the evils of non-organic milk at length. Herein lies the conundrum. For all its earnestness, or maybe because of it, Go Further drags. It's a movie with its heart in the right place, but that seems unwilling to preach to anyone outside the choir. The best bits are those in which Harrelson and the crew encounter folks who don't share their point of view--inhalant-addicted teens in Oregon, small town folks who sneeringly refer to Harrelson as "Woody Allen." Opportunities for confrontation are eschewed lest anyone's vibe gets harshed. One almost wishes Michael Moore had been hitchhiking along US Route 1 that summer. --Ryan Boudinot

Description

Get on the bio-fueled bus with actor and activist Woody Harrelson and his band of "Merry Hempsters" as they embark on a 1,300-mile road trip from Seattle to Santa Barbara to promote environmental awareness and "Simple Organic Living." Pop and counter-culture documentarian Ron Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential, Twist) chronicles every leg of Harrelson's journey, from college campus appearances and encounters with curious onlookers, to a visit with 1960s icon Ken Kesey. With his fellow travelers, including one confessed junk food addict, Harrelson is determined to change hearts and minds, one hemp burger and sweet avocado chocolate mousse pie at a time. Featuring the music of Natalie Merchant, Bob Weir, Anthony Kiedis and Dave Matthews. "It's all good, dude."

Customer Reviews:

The Unsung Heros.......2007-08-03

This movie is for the every day Joe and Josie who are more concerned with putting food on the table for their families, rather than if it was microbiotic. Its not a get on your soap box movie, its a "this is a journey we took with like-minded folk telling our personal truths". They offered up the menu with ease and grace.

The real heros of the journey were not the attendees, but rather those folks they met along their journey at the side of the road. There were the individual farms, whether it be food or worm farms doing their thing in the manner that made their hearts sing. Yes, they had stereotypical teen drug users they met up with for a few moments and a lot too much of a two-faced sexiest named steve, small "s" intended.

The movie is worth your time and the message is worth all of our efforts. This coach potato might just get up early and go to the Saturday Farmer's Market in Eugene tomorrow.

Don't Understand other Reviews.......2005-08-23

After reading reviews on Amazon about this movie I was prepared to be disappointed. This is hands down the best movie I have seen that tries to put an entire organic way of living into a holistic framework. I have been disappointed in the past where people implement sustainable living in one area of their life but not others. For example I see raw foodists travel all over using fossil fuels and live in large houses. Also there are many good one issue movies such as the movie Blue Vinyl which I loved but the director was overweight and I don't know if she got the rest of the sustainable picture with regard to eating right, being close to nature, and using Yoga and meditation. There are many single issue movies and books out there looking at Biodiesel, sustainable agriculture, raw foods,green building and Yoga, but there is not one that puts them all together as well as this film.

What I really love about this movie is that it is upbeat, positive, and the poem at the end by Woody is worth the price alone. Also, don't miss the extras where there is a speech by Julia Hill Butterfly that is awesome.

Motivating.......2005-06-30

For a fat carnivore like myself, I found this exremely motivating. It isn't preachy. It isn't super political. It's just some basic truths and ideas presented. I've always been pretty ignorant about environmental things and didn't have the will power to want to change my eating habits. I loved the way this was presented. The musical presentations were great too. You should check out the website if the movie did anything for you.

Not Far Enough.......2005-06-21

Unfortunately, in this case the medium drowns out the message. Ostensibly the story of Woody Harrelson's bio-organic powered bus trip/college speaking tour of the West Coast to promote "environmental awareness" and "simple organic living," this documentary is, unfortunately, less about that than about the consciousness-raising transformation of a corn-pone eating, mentally challenged hayseed named "Steve Clark." Why producer-director Ron Mann chose a sexist, junk food and cigarette addicted dimwitted "everyman" to be the centerpiece of this movie escapes me. Although, I suppose that was the point. If so, yeech. I assure you, a very little of "Steve Clark" goes a long way.

The real lameness in this movie only becomes abundantly clear once one views the "special features" and "deleted scenes" which are far more interesting that watching "Steve" ogle a "chick" or shout through a megaphone exulting in his conversion to a new healthy life style (urp...). The real problem is that the movie seems edited for maximum "Steve" camera time (with the attendant bumps and bruises of bicyclist's life on the road) and only incidentally about environmentalism and alternatives to mass consumer culture. Which is to say, the best moments are found in the deleted scenes; for instance, a beautiful and haunting song by Dave Matthews and his quite thoughtful discourse on the current state of American mass media as a distorted misrepresentation of "reality;" Woody Harrelson's "poem" is likewise an "extra" as are much of the lectures and q&a of his campus crusade. So when one looks at the entire package it becomes apparent that less "Steve" and more relevant and intelligent material would have perhaps made this movie a tad more didactic, but certainly more interesting.

On the up side, the movie does have the last recorded images of the late, great writer and counter-culture guru Ken Kesey, and a lecture by former cattle rancher turned activist Howard Lyman who in no uncertain terms delineates the source of the feed that results in cannibal cow madness (which must, one assumes, have some affect on voracious dead cow eaters).

All in all, a mixed effort whose best moments were left on the editing room floor.

A mediocre Ax Grinding Session With Woody.......2005-06-18

This film basically consists of keeping Woody Harrelson company as he rages against the machine. And while this is not useless or a waste of time, it does not make for good cinema. Besides technical problems such as bad sound and lighting, these people do a poor job of getting their point across. They really do little more than scaremonger and whitewash. To me yelling that every glass of milk has blood and pus in it is just as counteractive as D.A.R.E telling kids that all drugs will destroy their lives, in that once that lie is exposed you lose all credibility with your audience. When I watch an excellent documentary, say "Fahrenheit 9-11," I get two things that were lacking in this film, boiling blood and answers to questions that would come from the other side. For example, in this film why couldn't they answer why we are living longer than ever if all we are eating is blood, pus, and pesticides? Or, why is it okay to take drugs that were created in a laboratory, but not food that was created there? And it wouldn't have killed them to poke one of two holes in their theory, just to keep things real. I simply did not believe that every person they ran into were dying to eat their organic food, and that once they did they all loved it, got clear skin, and became sexual maniacs. As a liberal I was disappointed to see them poorly using tactics that I associate with the right in this country (once again: scaremongering and whitewashing). That said, millions of people tune into Bill O'Reilly every night and all he does is sit in an office. At least Harrelson and company rode a bike across the country to get your attention. I enjoyed the scene when they ran into Sharon because to me she represented the current state of the American mind ("Were not at crisis as long as I choose not to see it."). I also thought the training ground for protestors was fun and informative. Also, it is obvious to me that one day hanging out with these people and I would lose all my liberal street cred. I like my dairy and chocolate and meat. Yes I know big corporations are usually evil (especially Monsanto), but the food companies make it so that people in this country can eat. From where I'm sitting that is a lot less evil than. . .oh say. . .locking your employees in the store after hours and union busting. Still, for the most part the trip is dull and preachy. The film would have been better served with more statistics and less megaphone. 2.5 out of 5.

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