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Poster for Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place

Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place

Seen it?

2011 | 107 min | Documentary, Music

Weeknight Watchearly rating

Why it’s a Weeknight Watch

With almost no lasting buzz and soft box office, it's a mixed bag. Fine if it's on; don't plan your night around it.

Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.

Is it for you?

Who'll love it
If you count yourself among people who like the journey more than the destination and anyone who likes knowing it really happened, this one's for you. It's a road trip, so the detours matter as much as the destination. A good follow-up to Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me. Based on real events, so expect to go down a research rabbit hole afterwards.
The mood
Eye-opening.
The pace
Moves through the story clearly, at 1 hr 47 min.
What might put you off
  • Rated R: meant for adults.
  • Skip it if you want made-up drama tonight.

A freewheeling portrait of Ken Kesey and the Merry Prankster’s fabled road trip across America in the legendary Magic Bus. In 1964, Ken Kesey, the famed author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” set off on a legendary, LSD-fuelled cross-country road trip to the New York World’s Fair. He was joined by “The Merry Band of Pranksters,” a renegade group of counterculture truth-seekers, including Neal Cassady, the American icon immortalized in Kerouac’s “On the Road,” and the driver and painter of the psychedelic Magic Bus.

How it earned its rating

  • CriticsSolid

    72% on Rotten Tomatoes, 59 on Metacritic

  • AudiencesNot counted

    Not measured yet: not enough ratings

  • AwardsNot counted

    No major awards or nominations

  • Box office & staying powerBelow par

    $155K worldwide; still draws a steady audience long after release

  • Buzz & cultural impactWeak

    About 17K people sought it out in the past year

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Cast & crew

Directed by Alison Ellwood, Alex Gibney

  • Ken KeseySelf
  • Jerry GarciaSelf (archive footage)
  • Neal CassadySelf
  • Phil LeshSelf (archive footage)
  • Bob WeirSelf (archive footage)