‘Don’t Make Me Go’ Review: Heartfelt Road-Trip Drama Loses Its Way
variety.comMichael Nordine author“You’re not gonna like the way this story ends,” announces the teenage narrator of “Don’t Make Me Go” as the film opens, “but I think you’re gonna like the story.” The first half of that sentence is so accurate it complicates the second.
The movie’s ending is misguided to the point of being perplexing rather than upsetting, recasting everything that came before it in a less favorable light.
That’s a shame, as this father-daughter drama starring John Cho has more than its fair share of touching moments before hitting the roadblock that is its questionable third act.Directed by Hannah Marks and written by Vera Herbert, “Don’t Make Me Go” is in some ways an inversion of the “unexpected kid” genre in which the protagonist is introduced to the child they didn’t know they had.
The difference is that here, circumstances of the life-and-death variety prompt a single father named Max (Cho) to introduce his teenage daughter Wally (Mia Isaac, who also narrates) to the mother she’s never met.
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