As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. Accompanying him is a neigh... Read allAs an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. Accompanying him is a neighbor who inadvertently puts a wrench in his plan.As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. Accompanying him is a neighbor who inadvertently puts a wrench in his plan.
- Awards
- 3 nominations
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSteve Carell and Nancy Carell, who play husband and wife briefly in this film, are husband and wife in real life.
- GoofsDodge pulls out the vinyl album "Scott", Scott Walker's first solo album. He takes record out of sleeve puts it on turntable but "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" plays. This was by The Walker Brothers and was not on the album in question. Additionally, the following song that plays "Stay With Me Baby" does not appear on the album "Scott." Nor does it appear on the album "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore." The two tracks only appear together on later released compilation albums. Coincidentally though, the first track on the album "Scott" (the one shown but not played) is "Mathilde" - an alternate spelling of Matilda - which is the name of the asteroid in the movie.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Penny: I don't want to fall asleep. Okay? Don't let me fall asleep. Promise.
Dodge: I promise. What about your parents?
Penny: They're romantics. They understand. Besides, they've got each other. I just want to be with you.
Dodge: And I want to be with you.
Penny: I couldn't live without you. No matter how long. What do we do now?
Dodge: I just want to lay here with you. Just want to talk to you.
Penny: Okay. What are we gonna talk about?
Dodge: Where'd you grow up?
Penny: Well, I was born in Surrey. My whole family are from there. My mum was a journalist before she married my dad. They never fought. Or at least we never heard them fight. Charlie's the oldest, then Benny, then me. We had a sister but she died when she was born. I still think about her.
[*explosion*]
Penny: Oh God.
Dodge: What was her name? What was your sister's name?
Penny: Patricia. Patricia Hope Lockhart.
Dodge: That's beautiful. That's a beautiful name.
Penny: I wish I'd met you a long time ago. When we were kids.
Dodge: It couldn't have happened any other way. It had to happen now.
Penny: But it isn't enough time.
Dodge: It never would have been.
Penny: I'm scared.
Dodge: I... am madly in love with you, Penny. You're my favorite, favorite thing.
Penny: I thought that somehow we'd save each other.
Dodge: We did. Penny. I'm really glad I got to know you.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #20.161 (2012)
- SoundtracksWouldn't It Be Nice
Written by Tony Asher, Mike Love and Brian Wilson
Performed by The Beach Boys
Courtesy of Capitol Records under license from EMI Film & Television Music
The premise is that in the near future we spot an asteroid heading towards Earth, big enough that if it hits us then it will be the end of humanity as we know it. So a mission has been sent to ostensibly destroy it or divert it, to save the Earth.
Steve Carell is Dodge and he and his wife are sitting in their car, listening to a news report that sadly the mission has failed, there was a fire, the spaceship was destroyed, all were lost. In 21 days the asteroid will hit, there is nothing that can be done.
So with that as a set-up the movie examines how people react to that news, knowing they have exactly 3 weeks to live then it will be all over. Naturally it touches on some of the fringe behavior, guys who want to use their remaining time to have as much sex as possible, or party with alcohol and drugs, or just go through the streets looking and wreaking havoc. At a minimum, most quit going to work, gasoline runs short, commercial airlines quit flying.
I had difficulty discerning if this was intended as a dark comedy. For example, a TV news man would report, but end the session by saying they would continue to play their music programming. As if that mattered to anyone.
But Dodge is different. As soon as the bad news came, his wife got out of the car and fled. He realized quickly she had no love for him. As he tried to make sense of everything, he met a younger woman, Keira Knightley as Penny , an unstable sort from England, but wanted to get back and see her parents one more time. Dodge decided to help her. And that become "the rest of the movie." When it was over it was pleasant enough entertainment, maybe I though a bit about what I would do in a similar predicament, but ultimately it was a love story with a quite different catalyst.
SPOILERS: Dodge decided he would see if he could get to his estranged dad, a pilot, to fly Penny home. In the process his dad was able to say "I'm sorry" for everything that happened over the years. And, in a "Casablanca moment" Dodge put a sleeping Penny on the small plane, and right before he closed the door whispered to her "the love of my life." But a little later, when Dodge is back home, Penny shows up. She had asked that they return, she would rather be with Dodge at the end. As they lay in bed, we hear big rumblings, then everything goes dark.
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $10,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $7,078,738
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,822,803
- Jun 24, 2012
- Gross worldwide
- $11,681,781
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1