Would-be screenwriters are advised to catch Reservation Road on cable as it provides an object lesson of three awful script clichés that are to be avoided at all costs.

It starts with devastation and closes, after a few reels of narrative dithering, with a climax of hairpin emotional turns and indisputable power.

With a cast as good as this one, you're willing to look past the occasional glaring improbability.

Where it fails is in its documentary approach at portraying the mental aftermath of a tragedy and the dearth of plausible satisfaction for the conclusion.