''Don't Make Me Go'' is a 2022 American

road trip A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance journey on the road. Typically, road trips are long distances travelled by automobile. History First road trips by automobile The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by ...

film directed by

Hannah Marks Hannah Marks (born April 13, 1993) is an American actress, writer, and director. She played Amanda Brotzman on the television series ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency''. Early life Hannah Marks was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Ro ...

, written by Vera Herbert, and starring

John Cho John Cho (born Cho Yo-Han; June 16, 1972) is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the '' Harold & Kumar'' films, and Hikaru Sulu in the ''Star Trek'' rebooted film series. Early in his career, Cho also starred in the Asian A ...

and Mia Isaac. It premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was ...

on June 13, 2022, and was released on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service p ...

on July 15, 2022.

Plot

After discovering that he has a terminal disease, a single father takes his reluctant teenage daughter on a cross country road trip to find her estranged mother, as he tries to teach her everything she might need to know for the rest of her life along the way.

Cast

as Max Park * Mia Isaac as Wally Park *

Kaya Scodelario Kaya Rose Scodelario-Davis (née Humphrey; born 13 March 1992) is an English actress best known for her roles as Effy Stonem on the E4 teen drama '' Skins'' (2007–2010, 2013), and Teresa in the ''Maze Runner'' film series (2014–2018). Ot ...

as Annie *

Josh Thomson Joshua Joseph Thomson (born September 21, 1977) is an American mixed martial arts podcaster, commentator, analyst and former mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2001, Thomson has competed in Bellator MMA, PRIDE, Strikeforce, ...

as Guy Connelly * Otis Dhanji as Glenn *

Stefania LaVie Owen Stefania LaVie Owen is a New Zealand-American actress. She is known for her roles as Puddle Kadubic in the television series ''Running Wilde'' and as Dorrit Bradshaw in the teen drama television series '' The Carrie Diaries''. She starred as Mel ...

as Sandra * Mitchell Hope as Rusty * Jen Van Epps as Nicole *

Jemaine Clement Jemaine Atea Mahana Clement (born 10 January 1974) is a New Zealand actor, comedian, musician and filmmaker. He has released several albums with Bret McKenzie as the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, and created a comedy series of th ...

as Dale Angelo *

as Tessa

Production

The script written by Vera Herbert was on the 2012

Black List Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, ...

of the most-liked unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. The first draft was dated June 8, 2012, and it was originally titled ''A Story About My Father''. On March 24, 2021,

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed t ...

signed on to develop the film, with

set to direct and Herbert writing and executive producing the film, with

Donald De Line Donald De Line (or Donald DeLine) is an American film producer. He was formerly the head of production at Paramount Pictures. He began his career as a studio executive at Walt Disney Productions and its Touchstone Pictures division in 1985, eventu ...

, Peter Saraf, and Leah Holzer producing. On March 24, 2021, it was announced that

had been cast in the film. On April 13, 2021, it was announced that Mia Isaac had joined the cast, and

joined the cast on August 13, 2021. The story was originally written for a White family, but the director, Hannah Marks felt that Cho was best suited for the role after seeing him in a previous father role in ''Searching''. And after Isaac joined, Marks said, "We did adapt the script in certain areas to feel like it was customized to them." Filming commenced in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

in May 2021.

Release

The film premiered at the

on June 13, 2022, and was released on

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

on July 15, 2022.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator website ''

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

'' rated it 53% based on 60 reviews with an average rating of 5.8/10. The critical consensus reads, "John Cho and Mia Isaac are an appealing pair of leads, but ''Don't Make Me Go'' is one road trip movie that follows an overly familiar path." Kate Erbland of ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

'' gave the film a B, calling it "a joy, heartbreaking and heartening in equal measure." Angie Han of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' called it "a solidly likable drama, anchored by lovely, lived-in chemistry between John Cho and Mia Isaac as a father-daughter duo," but added that "a misguided third-act choice throws off its bittersweet vibe, leaving a distinctly sour aftertaste." Michael Nordine of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' also criticized the film's third act as "questionable."

References

External links

* {{Hannah Marks 2022 adventure films 2022 comedy-drama films 2022 films 2022 independent films 2020s adventure comedy-drama films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films 2020s road comedy-drama films Amazon Studios films American adventure comedy-drama films American road comedy-drama films Comedy-drama films about Asian Americans Big Beach (company) films Films about families Films about father–daughter relationships Films directed by Hannah Marks Films produced by Donald De Line Films shot in New Zealand Films about Korean Americans