How I Got Lost

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, longtime best friends Andrew and Jake (Aaron Stanford and Jacob Fishel) are facing both professional and personal problems. Andrew's career on Wall Street has just sputtered out and Jake's stuck in a dead-end job while unable to start the novel he dreamed of writing. Their personal lives are also floundering, with Jake being strung along by a beautiful and free-spirited but selfish woman, while Andrew is faced with the death of his father, whom he was estranged from. A good premise, no doubt about that. So when Andrew decides to suddenly skip town, Jake accompanies him against his better judgment. At that point, the script seems at a loss as to what to do and the story just drifts and largely goes nowhere. After some very mild misadventures, they wind up in Andrew's home town. This was based on a short film and it appears the screenwriter struggled to find enough filler material to pad it out to feature length. Some of the dialog is perceptive, but not enough of it is. Andrew's character (very well-played by Stanford) is exasperating, as well. There are also some good scenes, especially one that takes place on a subway, but more of them seem to be just stuck there, and the story turns out to be as devoid of purpose as the characters. "How I Got Lost" is not a bad try and the cinematography is beautiful, but it never gives the audience enough to care about.