Having had enough of being knocked around by her boyfriend, wouldbe singer Maya (Rumer Willis, HOSTAGE) takes to the road with her guitar, her pills, and her boyfriend's gun. Breaking down in the middle of nowhere, she seeks assistance at a house only to discover the elderly owner has expired on the sofa. She decides to steal the old woman's van, not realizing that it is the home of her grandson Duncan (Chris Marquette, FREDDY VS. JASON), an autistic young man who works in a nearby convenience store. Unable to abandon him on the side of the road, Maya - having discovered a stack of uncashed checks addressed to Duncan - decides to deliver him to his estranged father (Bruce Altman, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS) if she can only convince Duncan - who has a talent for drawing detailed maps (which came in handy at the convenience store) - to show her where he is. Stopping off in a cowboy tourist trap, Maya reconnects with her now married former boyfriend Dave (Brendan Sexton III, BLACK HAWK DOWN) who helps her through her prescription pill withdrawal and encourages her to take up singing again but she and Duncan have to take to the road again so she can see a doctor to find out what else is wrong with her after she has detoxed cold turkey. After she makes a devastating discover, she is more desperate to unload Duncan until they meet his father; however, the heated confrontation gives her the strength to confront her own troubled past with her mother (Veronica Cartwright, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS).

THE ODD WAY HOME works as a drama about two misfits who form a special bond in the face of adversity, but it owes so much to just about every other similar film that came before it that there's absolutely nothing original or novel about it. It comes across almost like a parody of Hollywood Oscar-bait through an indie lens. A mumbly Willis can't quite stand out from the cliches, but Marquette manages an entertaining and touching characterization even if it shaped around the script contrivances. Sexton and Cartwright are also worthy of mention in limited screen time, and the Red Epic lensing of Matt Wilson is quite lovely throughout. The solo feature debut of Rajeev Nirmalakhandan - following a handful of shorts and the co-directed comedy CHOOCH - shows that he is capable of lensing a slick and professional film but the heart that obviously went into the script and the film itself is unable to overcome the overfamiliarity.