Traveller Reviews

Indie filmmaking as it should be: This modest road movie about small-time con artists -- with the twist that they're clannish, transplanted Irish gypsies working their scams up and down the roads of the rural South -- actually leaves you wanting more. Pat O'Hara (Mark Wahlberg) comes back to North Carolina to bury his father, who was expelled from the Travellers for marrying an outsider. On the verge of being sent packing after the funeral, he's taken under the wing of Bokky (Bill Paxton), who promises to show him the ropes and keep him out of trouble. The two team up with Double-D (James Gammon), an old rapscallion with big plans, and develop a roguish bond that's sorely tested when Bokky falls in love with independent single mom Jean (Julianna Marguiles). There's nothing new going on here in story terms: In fact, Jim McGlynn's script occasionally resorts to some of the more dubious tricks in the book, like the one last con to get money for the poor little deaf child's expensive operation. But Paxton (who also produced) and Marguiles turn in fine, affecting performances, Wahlberg is better than you might expect, and the story is powered by a knock-out soundtrack, a greatest-hits collection of classic country tunes that range from k.d. lang's version of "Seven Lonely Nights" to Randy Travis covering "King of the Road."