At Any Price - 2 smiles

L to R: Zac Efron, Maika Monroe, Heather Graham, Kim
Dickens, Denis Quaid, Ramin Bahrani.

During a Q & A after a Tribeca screening of “At Any Price,” writer-director Ramin Bahrani explained that he wanted to do a movie about the relationship between fathers and sons. And there’s much to admire with its more realistic depiction of the modern agricultural industry full of pressure and stress. And Dennis Quaid’s portrayal of the unlikable, glad-handing Henry Whipple is effective as is Zac Efron’s as Henry’s brooding younger son, Dean. However, the female characters are given short shrift, especially Maika Monroe, who plays Dean’s girlfriend and provides the narrative with its moral center. But the biggest flaw with “At Any Price” is a third-act tonal shift with an event that occurs without substantial consequences for the main characters.

Iowa farmer Henry Whipple (Quaid) is a second-generation corn farmer with a huckster side job of selling genetically altered seeds for Liberty (stand-in for Monsanto, a company many people would like to see stripped of its monopolizing ownership of patented seeds). Henry’s dream of passing the family farm down to his oldest son Grant is tempered by the distance Grant keeps from the family; he’s off climbing a mountain in Argentina. So Henry turns his attentions to Dean (Efron), an amateur stock-car driver with NASCAR ambitions. Dean spends his time with his girlfriend Cadence (Monroe) and stealing from an auto supply store for parts for his car. Henry, ethically challenged from the start as he cheats on his wife (Kim Dickens) and buys up land from bereaved families for pennies-on-the-dollar, is not a satisfying protagonist. All in all, “At Any Price” is too much melodrama and not enough dramatic depth. 4/19/13