Written And Directed by David Robert Mitchell
Greg: "Is that a fucking dinosaur?"
Denise: "It is."
Catching up with a few of the remaining summer blockbusters, I caught up with this one yesterday afternoon. Was this a rejected pitch for a one off Jurassic World film? It certainly felt like it.
Anne Hathaway has had an interesting 2026. There was Mother Mary, which ended up being hit and miss but she came back swinging with both The Devil Wears Prada 2 and The Odyssey. This movie however would fall back into the hit and miss category.
In this movie, she's a writer named Denise Platt and she's on the brink of divorcing her husband, Greg (Ewan McGregor). They've also got two children named Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery) and a dog named Starbuck. They live on Oak Street. That's the basics of this particular family unit.
Add in an irate named Mel (P.J. Byrne), a local event and a missing dog and it was from then onwards that things actually got a bit weird in this movie. I should say prehistoric as dinosaurs suddenly started showing up and then there was some time travelling antics to boot.
I should admire this movie's ambition. The idea was good and when the Platt family weren't being separated and fighting for their lives from dinosaurs, Denise realised that she didn't want to get a divorce after all. There's a bit where it looked like Greg had been killed off until he wasn't.
Another point I'll give the movie would be that it didn't neatly try to resolve things. While Denise and Greg worked things out and the former got herself a book out of the events, Oak Street itself was still stuck between prehistoric times and wormholes. I guess it would suggest a follow up.
- The movie's title ended up being the title of Denise's book. Greg was delivering pizzas upon losing his job.
- Originally, this was called Flowervale Street before the title change.
- Standout music: Pat Benatar's Hit Me With Your Best Shot and Roxy Music's More Than This.
- Chronology: 1982 on Oak Street in Flowervale, Michigan. Then a time jump to two years later.
I'm really not sure about The End Of Oak Street. I kind of liked it but I also kind of didn't. It's a diverting summer blockbuster but it also felt like a parody in parts. I'll probably revisit it at some point and have a clearer view on it.
Rating: 6 out of 10
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