Joyride

Watched this almost by accident on a Sunday afternoon with nothing to do and nowhere to go. This movie was much better than any expectations I might have had. Tobey Maguire and Wilson Cruz are fine together as is Amy Hathaway (not familiar with her). Adam West is fine as a sleazy father pimping for his daughter. Though the "losers making bad choices" plot can bore the heck out of me, this one kept my attention. Certainly not great in any way, it's not boring or stupid and can sometimes be surprising.

Tobey Maguire had to start somewhere before becoming Spiderman. His acting is quite good even if his aimless and clueless character makes no sense. Here's the plot: a motel owner's son hooks up with a hooker tenant, hangs out with his gay buddy (who seems to have a crush on him) and steals a car from an icy villainess assassin. Then a lot of other plot points occur that have nothing to do with each other. The first half is OK but then quickly disintegrates into this tangled non-sensical mess. Wilson Cruz does his best as Tobey's gay friend but his acting is too good for the amateurish script. Adam West as a father who pimps his daughter is an interesting stunt cast but who cares by the end. I bought the DVD for five bucks and paid about $4.79 too much.

First off, this is certainly not a "great" movie, however is is endearing. The quirky direction, style and simplicity makes this movie memorable and worth watching. It's just one of those movies that is just enough outside convention, yet manages to still be entertaining and purposeful. In "daring to be different", lies it's appeal, and shows that even with a low budget you can make a good movie, and you can have good actors driving it.

The only reason to watch this movie is to see just how awful it is and how far Tobey Maguire and Benico Del Toro have come as actors. The script and dialoge are awful, and appear to be written by high school level talent. The premise is absurd and loaded with ridiculous sub plots to further waste viewers time. In short, three just out of high school kids tango with death so they can keep a car. Adam West is good for a laugh as some sort of pimp/daddy business man. If you're a collector of some sort and want this film, the good news is you should be able to get it for about three bucks at any Target or WalMart style store. However, I certainly don't bother messing with this one.

Good movie. I've seen it more than once. Christina Naify as Smith was just AWESOME, why haven't we seen her in more films. The rest of the cast was good also. It was nice to see Batman play a sleazemeister. The guy playing the sheriff did a good job, I've seen him in other films and he seems to talk that way all the time.