Chris Evans appears to be following in the mold of what other stars have done before him, where he makes the box office blockbuster (Captain America) mostly, and occasionally throws in an independent film to keep his sensibilities balanced (Puncture). With Before We Go, he can add ‘first-time director' to his broadening repertoire.

Ron Bass (Rain Man) and first-time writer Jen Smolka created the story that became a screenplay for Evans' direction. Evans also plays Nick Vaughn, a trumpet player who is hanging out at New York's Grand Central station. Brooke (Alice Eve, Star Trek Into Darkness) runs by him, breaks her phone near him in an attempt to catch a train to Boston, which she unfortunately misses. Nick catches up to Brooke and gets her the broken phone, and thus begins the story of trying to get Brooke back to Boston that night, which according to her absolutely must happen. With a phone (Nick's has died) or finances (Nick's credit cards are all declined and neither of them have cash in hand) they try to accomplish this herculean task.

When you paint yourself into a storytelling corner such as what Before We Go decides to do, you better have confidence in what you're doing and how you're doing it, and I'm not sure that turning things over to a first-time director was a prudent decision for this exploration. To be fair, part of being a first-time director IS the exploration of different avenues to tell the story, and Evans does a capable job of showing some of the quieter moments for both Nick and Brooke, and show a different side of New York at night, along with some of its inhabitants, that we may not have been familiar with before. But these moments are few and far between when it comes to the story Before We Go tries to tell.

As he's a minor touchstone for me, one of the things I remember Paul Thomas Anderson saying on (I believe) his commentary for his first film Hard Eight is that if you put two characters in a confined space, then the dialogue will eventually come out from it. I'm paraphrasing on it of course, but basically if the characters don't seek out ways to break out of their space, then the movie lacks any genuine feeling. That is what does not come out of the opening moments of Before We Go, and the rest of the film, even at just 95 minutes, becomes a slog, rife with pacing problems and random issues of believability.

Evans does what he can with Nick, showing some vulnerability and sensitivity in a role that may not have had either on the page when he saw it, and his performance is a mild yet pleasant surprise. Eve shows a bit less depth, portraying Brooke in much the same way that a female lead with character conflict does, but with less distinction. You could have swapped her out for any other female lead and likely had the same results, which may be the fault of the script as well. Together the pair has a bit of chemistry, but a lot of it reminded me of Linklater's Before movies, and not done nearly as well here.

While Before We Go is an admirable foray into direction by a marquee name, the film is likely to be remembered for being just that. Evans will presumably direct future films occasionally and to average reception, but if he progresses like his other independent dramatic work does, there may be something there, but I don't think anyone knows what quite yet.

The 1.85:1 widescreen transfer given to Before We Go looks nice, albeit nothing jaw-dropping. John Gulesarian has been cinematographer on previous films such as Like Crazy and About Time and his visual style comes through here as well, with use of back and/or natural light prevalent in the film. Colors are reproduced faithfully and image detail is consistent for the most part. Black levels in the film are consistent with a bit of crush, but overall the Anchor Bay presentation is fine.

There is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless surround track to go with the film and while it doesn't get a lot to do, when Nick and Brooke walk into a party sequence, the bass from the music announces its presence in the low end with authority. The source material is dialogue heavy and is it clear and well-balanced, with channel panning and directional effects used sparingly but still conveying a sense of immersion for the audience. Like the transfer, it's firmly above average.

The only thing here is "A Conversation with Director Chris Evans" (3:31), where Evans shares his intent for the film and approach as director, what he likes about it, and his thoughts on "playing" the trumpet.

I think one has to view Before We Go with two prisms, one is on the novelty of first-time director Chris Evans, and the other is on the film itself. The better aspect of this is Evans' direction, though we're setting a low bar for the film that it ultimately never realizes. Technically the disc is decent and could have used something on the extras other than a three-minute interview. But if you're looking to explore films a bit, you could take this one out for a spin.