World Traveler (2002)

A contemporary road movie in the tradition of Five Easy Pieces, World Traveler centers on Cal (Crudup), a man to whom everything in life has come easily. Possessing the sort of dashing good looks and effortless charm that endears him to both women and men, Cal enjoys success as an architect and shares a comfortable West Village apartment with his lovely wife and adorable young son. But, in a classic case of "watch-out-what-you-wish-for," Cal finds himself in his early 30's with everything a man could want and with his grasp far exceeding his reach. And so, in a gesture that is at once completely sudden yet obviously long in-the-works, Cal hits the road in the family car - but without the family. Before it's too late, Cal needs to reach for things, probably for the first time in his life. On his cross-country journey Cal initially enjoys the advantages of the unencumbered life. Working his way west, he takes a job as a day laborer, shares drunken nights with a newfound buddy (Derricks), picks up a hitchhiker (Balaban), and tumbles into a series of rented beds with a series of unquestioning, undemanding women (Allen and Moore). But, with every encounter, the romance of the open road somehow eludes him. Even though he is looking for something, Cal can't escape the fact that he is also running away from something, and what he has left behind is worth more than what he hopes to find.