The disappointment and malaise of a modern farmer's life comes through, but almost as an afterthought. As Bahrani makes clear, it's worth a more focused film.
At Any Price
How far will you go to chase a dream?
2012 · 1h 45m · R
Drama, Thriller
Directed by
Ramin Bahrani
Overview
Henry Whipple wants his rebellious son Dean to help expand his family’s farming empire. However, Dean has his sights set on becoming a professional race car driver. When a high-stakes investigation into their business is exposed, father and son are pushed into an unexpected situation that threatens the family's entire livelihood.
Director and cast
- Ramin Bahrani Director
- Dennis Quaid as Henry Whipple
- Zac Efron as Dean Whipple
- Kim Dickens as Irene Whipple
- Clancy Brown as Jim Johnson
- Maika Monroe as Cadence Farrow
- Heather Graham as Meredith Crown
- Red West as Cliff Whipple
- Chelcie Ross as Byron
- Stephen Louis Grush as Torgeson
- Ben Marten as Brad Johnson
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
Bahrani fills the frame with weathered faces and "At Any Price" feels like it unfolds in something close to the real America. But he wants to give us larger-than-life drama, and his strengths are life-sized.
Bahrani seems less interested in getting at the heart of a man who has sold his soul than he is in showing how the hard facts of modern farming have literally and figuratively changed the landscape.
Written and played with a little more subtlety, Henry and his contradictions could have been fascinating; as it is, "At Any Price" keeps us at a distance, gazing at characters who never quite come to life.
Like the small farmers forced to kowtow to corporations, writer and director Ramin Bahrani chickens out. His melodramatic script reduces a global conflict to a Grain Belt "Glengarry Glen Ross."
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