The End of the Tour

This love song to the art of conversation is about a Rolling Stone journalist, David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) who is infatuated with the novelist David Foster Wallaces gargantuan novel Infinite Jest and begs for the opportunity to profile the author, who is about to leave his snowbound rural home in Illinois for a five-day book tour to Minneapolis. Wallace, played as a shambling, reflective, moody, acutely self-aware and rigorously honest lost soul by Jason Segel, immediately impresses Lipsky with his utter lack of pretense, his fondness for his dogs and his appreciation (very much shared by Lipsky) for junk food and Pepsi. Lipsky serves as an acolyte, a sounding board and a friend, and yet Wallace, himself an experienced journalist, is suspicious of his interlocutors motives.  Kyle Smith, NY Post Two writers bonding over work, their self-awareness and how their efforts are perceived can only sustain an audience of non-authors so far, but The End of the Tour understands the necessity to communicate universal truths. Based on Lipskys memoir, this adaptation by Donald Margulies (director James Pondsoldts college professor) is extremely alive, tapping into shared fears, worries and philosophies with an authentic and familiar immediacy that feels like it was transcribed as it happened in the moment& The movies look at isolation, confidence and connection reverberates deeply& Intimate, soul-baring, and winning, The End of the Tour is a special, lovely little gem.  Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist