Parents' Guide to

Life on the Line

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Earnest but cliché-filled drama has violence, swearing.

Movie R 2016 97 minutes
Life on the Line Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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What's the Story?

In LIFE ON THE LINE, a group of Texas men work the dangerous job of maintaining the electrical grid. One rainy night, Beau (John Travolta) sees his brother die in a terrible accident, and he takes on the task of raising his young niece, Bailey. Years later, Bailey (Kate Bosworth) is grown up and preparing to head for college. Bailey's ex-boyfriend, Duncan (Devon Sawa), is hired on the line crew for a huge retrofit, which must be completed before a looming deadline -- and before a massive storm hits. Beau doesn't trust Duncan and doesn't think he's good for Bailey. Meanwhile, another lineman (Ryan Robbins), a war veteran with untreated PTSD, seems to be increasingly unstable, and a local man with a crush on Bailey starts stalking her. Can the crew survive this tense time?

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

The filmmakers behind this earnest, heartfelt drama truly want to honor the brave men who do this job, but the movie is packed with cliches and doesn't really grasp the details of hard work. The screenplay relies on soap opera mechanics, with characters behaving in certain specific, rigid ways designed to move the plot forward; they're never allowed to emerge as characters. Not to mention that the plot itself is so weary and shopworn that it's not hard to guess what's coming as the movie slogs forward.

And, in all this, the point of the lineman -- understanding his work -- is more or less lost; we see images of men climbing poles and attaching clamps to things, but that's about it. Underneath yet another batch of bizarre facial hair, Travolta manages to find some kind of weary, inner life to his character. And in a small role as an alcoholic, Sharon Stone proves she still has onscreen electricity. But otherwise, Life on the Line is as dead as a downed power line.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Life on the Line's violence. How much of it is necessary to tell the story? Which scenes are shocking? Why?

  • How does the movie portray drinking and alcoholism? Does it judge the alcoholic character?

  • What other movies about specific jobs can you think of? How does this one compare to them?

Movie Details

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