The End of the Tour

Just as Truman Capote spun an evening with Marlon Brando into “The Duke in His Domain,” David Lipsky turned a five-day assignment following Infinite Jest writer David Foster Wallace into his 2010 memoir Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself. Now that memoir has been adapted for the screen, with Jesse Eisenberg playing the subtly hostile hero-worshiper Lipsky and Jason Segel as the self-deprecating literary lion Wallace. Rather than the stuffy or self-infatuated film you might expect, The End of the Tour is an intelligent and infectious two-hander, a My McDonald's Breakfast with David explosion of conversation, and an insightful look into the insecurities that eat away at writers of all statures. Segel does great work in an atypical role, and Eisenberg is even more impressive, all needy, nervous laughter and simmering resentment. Their crackling chemistry is essential for a film that finds all of its action in conversation. D.B.