A play consisting of noth ing more than a con versation between a father and his son during a lengthy car ride would seem to offer little in the way of surprises.

Sure enough, the opening minutes of “Sixty Miles to Silver Lake,” now at the Soho Rep – the crew that brought us the white-hot “Blasted” – offer familiar characters and themes: a divorced father (Joseph Adams) trying to connect with his teenager while complaining bitterly about the boy’s mother. The son (Dane DeHaan) – obsessed with video games, rap music and soccer – is both contemptuous of his father and desperate for his approval.

But it isn’t long before Dan LeFranc’s play, directed by Obie-winner Anne Kauffman (“The Thugs”), goes in unexpected directions.

The dialogue becomes fragmented and repetitive. It gradually becomes clear that the action is shifting back and forth in time over a period of several years. And occasional bursts of eerie sound and visual effects indicate that these two troubled figures may be on a figurative highway to hell.

“Sixty Miles” is a flawed journey. It doesn’t live up to its thematic aspirations, and it’s obvious the playwright is relying too heavily on stylization to compensate for the banal nature of his material.

While the staging includes imaginative visual flourishes – the car breaks into pieces, as if to accentuate the emotional gulf between the riders – the static proceedings, even at 75 minutes, prove monotonous.

The characters do get under your skin, though, thanks to the superb performances. Adams vividly conveys the father’s underlying anger, which reveals itself in occasional vicious outbursts, while DeHaan, skillfully suggesting different stages of adolescence, is haunting as his emotionally wounded son.

SIXTY MILES TO SILVER LAKE Soho Rep, 46 Walker St.; 212- 352-3101. Through Feb. 8.