Parents' Guide to Off the Grid

If, as they say, a movie is only as good as its villains, then this good-looking but generic actioner isn't very good; it opts for reliable storytelling over trying anything fresh. Off the Grid's three villains are pretty awful. Stormare's CEO sits in his office—which is furnished with a giant gong—and snarls orders with overacted affectation. Kinnear's preppie character spends the entire movie complaining about having to go to the Deep South. And worst of all is Marcus, who dresses like Snape from Harry Potter, wearing a black track jacket that's zipped up to his neck and black gloves, even in the Southern heat. He acts mean and angry all the time and is basically an unpleasant caricature.

Meanwhile, the hero is a brilliant scientist who knows how to set traps like Rambo, dresses like Indiana Jones, and looks like a GQ model. The only truly interesting character is Josey, who's friendly and doesn't take any guff from her customers (though the fact that she has shortened her name from Josefina could suggest that she felt the need to whitewash some of her heritage to be more accepted by the locals). It would have been interesting to find out more about her, rather than shoving in another car chase or fight scene. Speaking of which, the movie is so uninventive that it opens with a flash-forward to a fight scene that happens near the end, apparently for no other reason than to begin with something exciting. All of that said, Off the Grid, which was filmed in Mississippi, is at least warm and sunny and inviting, so it's not a total waste of time.