The main theme is Wallace's looming fame, and it's unfortunate that a movie with a pitch-perfect understanding of the dynamic between writers rarely explores Wallace's actual writing.

I can't speak to its veracity, but I loved Segel's work here, playing Wallace as someone who over-analyzed everything, to a compulsive, near paralyzing degree, while still managing to be the most interesting, literary guy in the room.

By the time we're at the end of 'The End of the Tour,' it's arrived at something thoughtful and true about being a writer-and, even better, about being a real person.

'The End of the Tour' is 2015's first dramatic ace in the hole; from the screenwriting to the direction to the two stunning performances at its center, it's a powder-keg masterstroke of onscreen conversation.