False. Ugly. Hollow. Cheap. Worshipfully amateurish. A shameless Tarantino rip-off with snickering contempt for the intelligence of its audience (the writer-director, Talkington, does have some visual panache, thus it's a little surprising he's done virtually nothing since.) The sort of thing impressionable, uncritical viewers eat right up. It's all a big dumb joke; if you listen closely you can almost hear its dopey, guffawing laughtrack. The movie has no core, no reason to exist; it's gimmick piled on gimmick piled on gimmick.
Gil Bellows is a personable actor out of his element here. His talents are geared for television, not film. He's unable to project danger or darkness. For this sort of movie to work the outlaw MUST possess those qualities. Zellweger has fun with her splashy, trashy part, but is betrayed by an attention deficit disorder script. One minute she acts as the brake on Bellows' criminal impulses and yearns for domestic tranquility; the next she's a gun-toting hell-raiser delighted with her sudden celebrity. Gee, I wonder where Talkington got those ideas?
Then there's this Rory Cochrane fellow. As Bellows' psycho buddy, he's grotesque and nearly unwatchable. His acting is a desperate, shapeless mess. He doesn't know what he's doing up there, so he empties his whole bag of tricks. A few will mistake this for brilliance. Most will not be fooled.
The soundtrack is, unfortunately, very good (you wish it was attached to a legitimate story) and the convenience store robbery opening with that fine un-actor-ey kid, Wiley Wiggins, from "Dazed and Confused", is wise and understated. It's the only REAL scene in the movie. After that it's just Talkington ripping off or paying homage to, well, let's see - "Raising Arizona", "Reservoir Dogs", "Bonnie and Clyde", "Badlands", "True Romance", "Wild At Heart", "Natural Born Killers" and on and on and on.
Okay, Talkington, you're a movie fan. We got it. Now try making a good one.
Gil Bellows is a personable actor out of his element here. His talents are geared for television, not film. He's unable to project danger or darkness. For this sort of movie to work the outlaw MUST possess those qualities. Zellweger has fun with her splashy, trashy part, but is betrayed by an attention deficit disorder script. One minute she acts as the brake on Bellows' criminal impulses and yearns for domestic tranquility; the next she's a gun-toting hell-raiser delighted with her sudden celebrity. Gee, I wonder where Talkington got those ideas?
Then there's this Rory Cochrane fellow. As Bellows' psycho buddy, he's grotesque and nearly unwatchable. His acting is a desperate, shapeless mess. He doesn't know what he's doing up there, so he empties his whole bag of tricks. A few will mistake this for brilliance. Most will not be fooled.
The soundtrack is, unfortunately, very good (you wish it was attached to a legitimate story) and the convenience store robbery opening with that fine un-actor-ey kid, Wiley Wiggins, from "Dazed and Confused", is wise and understated. It's the only REAL scene in the movie. After that it's just Talkington ripping off or paying homage to, well, let's see - "Raising Arizona", "Reservoir Dogs", "Bonnie and Clyde", "Badlands", "True Romance", "Wild At Heart", "Natural Born Killers" and on and on and on.
Okay, Talkington, you're a movie fan. We got it. Now try making a good one.