For a movie focused on the controversial and depressive subject of assisted suicide, Youth in Oregon has a decidedly—some might say distastefully—quirky outlook. There’s the title, first of all: a trite play on the word “euthanasia” and a somewhat deceptive name for a movie about the end of life and the burden of old age. Then there’s the script, the debut of screenwriter Andrew Eisen, which uses an overwhelmingly personal and painful situation as a trigger for simplistic humor, familiar drama and clichéd depictions of dysfunctional families and white middle class America. About the only useful thing Youth in Oregon has going for it is Ross Riege’s bleary, lightly lit cinematography, which suggests we’re seeing the film through tired and deteriorating eyes, a heartbreaking view that belongs in a smarter, more mature film.
This view belongs to Ray (Frank Langella), who we see in the opening scene standing shirtless in front of a bathroom mirror. A surgery scar etched down the middle of his chest suggests a prolonged period of pain and anguish. We sense Ray’s suffering in the way he interacts with those closest to him: wife Estelle (Mary Kay Place), daughter Kate (Christina Applegate), son-in-law Brian (Billy Crudup) and teenage granddaughter Annie (Nicola Peltz). Ill-tempered and irascible, Ray is cold and often rude to his family. Because of his debilitating heart attack, he and Estelle are forced to move in with Kate and Brian, and after two years under the same roof, things have only gotten more tense. The night of his 80th birthday, after his doctor tells him he must undergo a surgery he may or may not survive, Ray announces his intentions to prematurely end his life in Oregon, where assisted suicide is legal. The plan involves a cross-country road trip from his New Hampshire home to the Pacific Northwest, where he’ll tidy things up at a long-ignored vacation property before finally putting an end to it all.
This introductory premise isn’t without intrigue, but the plot quickly settles into a series of familiar contrivances. Surrounding the central conflict are TV sitcom-level skirmishes between the rest of the family: Annie sends some nude selfies to her dorky boyfriend that leak out and spread across the school, forcing Kate to finally confront her daughter’s transition to womanhood; Brian, questioning his marriage and reluctantly chauffeuring a bickering Estelle and Ray across the country, catches a distressing glimpse of what his future with Kate might look like; and Estelle, in keeping with the tradition of rebellious screen grannies, reveals herself to be a flirty pill-popper and booze-hound, habits that are easier to hide outside of the cramped confines of Brian’s sedan. Throw in a couple estranged family members here and some awkwardly staged comedic sequences there and Youth in Oregon quickly checks off every box on the “family-focused indie dramedy” checklist.
While the subplots pile up and the character turns become harder to track, the film’s clearest message tells us that loving someone gives us the authority to overrule their choices and, more importantly, their feelings. As Ray’s family fusses and fights, ignoring his obvious fear and emotional turmoil, his desire to escape their bullshit becomes the story’s most plausible element. For a film fixated on death, Youth in Oregon doesn’t offer any particular insights or thoughts on the great beyond or what it actually means to literally take your life into your own hands. Director Joel David Moore previously explored the subject of death in his dark slapstick debut Killing Winston Jones, and he applies the same broad approach here. Comparatively, the moods and characterizations are certainly carry a more dramatic feel in this film, but his overall approach is equally as absurd, and so is the end result. The story’s elongated climax, a strained attempt at catharsis, is as forced and emotionally flat as the rest of the film, putting an unintentionally ironic spin on the story’s simplistic approach to the nature of conclusions. For all the labored prolonging of Ray’s inevitable expiration, Youth in Oregon can’t end fast enough.
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