My friend Dylan let us borrow this film. We had heard a few things about it, and were interested to see Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a street hustler. The problem with that is...well, his voice hasn't changed since he was Simba in The Lion King. Even when he's swearing a stream, it sounds wholesome. The film follows
Johnny's (Jesse Bradford playing 18 when he's WHAT? 30!!) quest to be a racecar driver. From the way this plot evolves, it seems that his only real experience with race cars involves video games, so I'm not sure where he thinks he's going to find practical experience with racing in Vegas. The only light in this bleak, poorly written, over-acted crapfest is Jordan Brower (Eric). He was the best thing in this film, and it should have been his story that we were listening to. He seemed to be the only interesting character in the entire film. Jonathan Taylor Thomas was only in the film briefly. I think he was only hired for the curiosity factor. I expected a lot more from a film exec produced by Gus Van Sant, but it is just a Tiger Beat version of My Own Private Idaho. It's unfortunate that Gus had to get himself involved in this mess. The friendship between Johnny (straight) and Eric (gay) seems contrived. Jordan Brower does his best, but it's unbelievably that Johnny Homophobe all of a sudden is ok with his new gay friend. The movie could at least have the decency to be comfortable with its subject matter before it tries, unsuccessfully, to explain it to others. -Heather
October 2, 2006
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