This link at Rotten Tomatoes shows all the Bay Area theaters screening “Into the Wild,” for those who are interested in checking it out.

Mercury News critic Bruce Newman liked the fllck:

Sean Penn’s remarkable film goes beyond the central struggle of Jon Krakauer’s bestselling book, luminously evoking “all that raw land . . . all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it” of Kerouac’s beat novel, “On the Road.”

The movie gives a sense of the enormity of America, as well as the cathartic power of crossing its varied landscape. As writer and director of this towering adaptation of Krakauer’s true-life tale, Penn here equals his best work as an actor.

“Into the Wild” doesn’t merely chase along after Christopher McCandless (wonderfully played by Emile Hirsch), who abandoned a future full of promise for one that frequently teetered on recklessness. McCandless walks into the Alaskan wilderness alone to administer a test of his own character, one that can only be taken pass-fail.

I’m starting to wonder more and more how many of these rave reviews come from folks who’ve spent much time sleeping on dirt. Guess this means I’ll have to see it for myself.