At Any Price (2012)

A farming family's business is threatened by an unexpected crisis, further testing the relationship between a father and his rebellious son.

Director:

Ramin Bahrani

Writers:

Ramin Bahrani (screenplay), Hallie Elizabeth Newton

Stars:

Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron, Kim Dickens

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Zac Efron	...	Dean Whipple
Dennis Quaid	...	Henry Whipple
Heather Graham	...	Meredith Crown
Clancy Brown	...	Jim Johnson
Kim Dickens	...	Irene Whipple
Red West	...	Cliff Whipple
Maika Monroe	...	Cadence Farrow
Chelcie Ross	...	Byron
Sophie Curtis	...	Aubrey
Stephen Louis Grush	...	Torgeson
Marc Grapey	...	Agent #1
Guy Massey	...	Pastor
Meighan Gerachis	...	Ivy
Tim Grimm	...	Alex
John Hoogenakker	...	Mr. Pritchard

Storyline

A farming family's business is threatened by an unexpected crisis, further testing the relationship between a father and his rebellious son.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content including a strong graphic image, and for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 September 2012 (USA)

Filming Locations:

DeKalb, Illinois, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Black Bear Pictures, Treehouse Pictures, Killer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Chix Chat on Film Review: Father and son bond.

At Any Price is the type of film that causes the audience to seriously consider the lengths at which a father will go to protect his son. Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid) is a large scale Iowa farmer who is working to pass the family business down to one of his sons. He has two sons and the eldest who originally went off to college is now exploring the world, which leaves the reins to be passed to the younger son Dean Whipple (Zac Efron) who has very little interest in carrying on the farming legacy. Dean is building a name for himself as a racer and has his sights set on a career in Nascar. This was the second film in the fest that I had viewed that touched on sibling rivalry between brothers, and this one was not much more rewarding than the other, Awful Nice. This story is entirely character driven, which is a bit ironic since the primary male characters are not particularly likable. The bright spot in the story is Dean's girlfriend Cadence (Maika Monroe), who knew how to ingratiate herself with people and was obviously a very smart girl. She made all the drama a bit more palatable as we traverse through cold and calculated purchase and sales tactics, with all the manipulation and deception, who knew that farming could be so devious. This story took my knowledge of farming to a whole new level, I would have thought that a farming story would be about who can grow the largest squash for the county fair, but this was morel about acquiring more land and building a customer base for seed sales. The theme that overshadowed the entire film was competition, brothers competing for their father's attention. Some of the story seemed a bit disjointed and served little purpose other than to emphasize how strained the father and son relationship was. The scenes with Dean and Henry were the most poignant, although Dean just came across as a spoiled entitled brat, Henry seemed to genuinely care about his son and was failing miserably at trying to figure out how to relate to him. I would love to say that this was a feel good story of a father and son who bond over circumstances that ultimately make them stronger as a family, but that is not the case since the feel good part of the story just never materialized.