Merging Marriage Story with Jurassic Park sounds like a recipe for disaster, but writer/director David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) mostly manages to make The End of Oak Street work.
The 1982-set action/drama film focuses on Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway) and her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor). They live in the suburbs of a non-specific city with their two kids, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), as well as their endearing but rascally dog Starbuck, who is forever getting off his leash, burrowing under the fence and shitting in neighbour Mel’s (P.J. Bryne) yard.
Early scenes quickly establish the kind of suburban ennui that’s eating away at the Platts. While they appear perfectly happy at a block party, Denise is writing a work of fiction about an unhappy woman that is clearly autobiographical. Meanwhile Greg is delivering pizzas for extra cash, and Brian is dodging a gang of older boys following a prank gone wrong.
Oh, and Audrey likes astronomy and is secretly queer.
The cracks in the family turn into full-blown fissures after a few nights of odd lights and windstorms leaves Oak Street residents stranded ~2 million years in the past (this occurs before the end of the first act, but has been spoiled in literally all of the marketing). All of the sudden the petty disagreements don’t matter much when you’re facing down dinosaurs at every turn.
It helps that The End of Oak Street spends a lengthy period of time setting up the family to ensure the audience invests in their journey. Brian is the weakest member, though that’s principally because the film can’t decide if he’s a regular pre-teen boy (at one point he’s clearly jacking it to Playboy) or young and dumb (his decision-making around Starbuck’s disappearance is aggravating at best and a plot contrivance at worst).
Hathaway and McGregor don’t have a ton of chemistry and there’s an uneven repetition in their fight scenes, but watching the family first try to figure out what’s going on, then fight to survive is compelling. The narrative is wisely contained to a brief period of around 48 hours and Oak Street (surprisingly) doesn’t shy away from the bloodshed. The dinosaurs are ruthless, so characters who find themselves outside have 50/50 odds of making it back inside.
Sometimes this plays for comedy (unsuspecting neighbours picked off on their front porch) while other times it’s kinda devastating and even surprising (one death left the audience in stunned silence at its audacity). Certainly there a few too many times where characters go outside at night (!) without a weapon or a plan (!!), but The End of Oak Street clips along at a speedy pace so there’s not much downtime.
Mitchell also clearly studied from JJ Abrams and Bad Robot’s playbook around crafting satisfying action sequences. This includes the requisite T-Rex(ish) attack/chase, though for my money, the stand-out set piece is a third act pay-off involving a worm-like dinosaur that is *much* longer than anyone realized.
The End of Oak Street is an exciting dino romp with a solid cast. At times, though, the tonal balance between the comedy, the domestic drama, and the family-friendly thrills is at odds with itself. Mitchell is clearly aiming for that original Jurassic Park sweet spot, but he’s landing closer to the Jurassic World films. Still, this is entertaining, slightly disposable fare; perfect for a late summer blockbuster entry. 3.5/5
The End of Oak Street is in theaters Aug 14
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