It doesn't often happen that a young actor outshines a veteran Hollywood laureate as easily as Charlie Reid does in Joyride. Playing a jolly and good-hearted, albeit almost Mary Stu-ish character, he gives an amazing performance and makes an enjoyable sparring duo with Olivia Colman. The two's relationship and acting are undoubtedly the highlights of the movie, which, while starting promising and strong, teeters off through its sluggish final act into a somewhat forced feel-good all-is-well ending. Despite its flaws, it was overall a decent and enjoyable movie and I do not regret watching it. 6.5 from me.

The plot is definitely messy at time's and it's probably a wee bit smultzy in places.

However it's a charming film with great acting.

Probably more a TV film than one for the cinema.

Definitely worth a watch though.

Dramatic, minimalistic, colorful. Slow moving with up and coming direction with Olivia Coleman's phenomenal acting. Also Charles Reid might be the best child actor I've ever seen. Very real life situations where some actually behave erratic under duress or indecisiveness. The shortcomings were covered, though not fully by superb acting of nearly all of the small cast which was sufficient for this production. Weaknesses were the plot(s) and clueless objectives. Also Olivia was a bit stereotyped for the role after her performance in The Lost Daughter. Cinematography could have been better especially given the countryside backdrop.