Anthem: An American Road Story

Hmph, you find yourself thinking. Another road trip, another pair of fresh-faced 26-year-olds with a couple of cams in search of the true America. How very cutting edge. How very ''real.'' And yet...we concede that this roaming book of diaries and dialogues, Anthem: An American Road Story, companion to Shainee Gabel and Kristin Hahn's just-out documentary, is very pleasing. The two are so earnest, so honest about their foibles as they pursue and capture interview prey — as elusive as Michael Stipe, as media whorish as Ben & Jerry, as humble as random waitresses — that (if you're not too choked with envy at their freewheeling go-for-it-ness) you're quickly disarmed. A-