U Turn (Oliver Stone, 1997)
Imdb
Date Watched: 1/9/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 12th HOF, Topsy's nomination
Rewatch: Yes
Possible Spoilers Ahead
Though IMDb and Wikipedia would have you believe this is a crime thriller, it's actually much more so a dark comedy. Sure, the dread, tension and unease are laid on thick, but so is the film's twisted humor.
The film centers around a drifter named Bobby (Sean Penn) who, while traveling to Las Vegas to pay off a sizable debt owed to a gangster, finds himself stranded in hell (otherwise known as Superior, Arizona) when his car breaks down. Here he encounters the town's colorful, volatile, and not too bright residents. After a series misfortunes leaves him broke - not only without the money for the gangster, but without even enough to pay off the town's white trash mechanic (hilariously played by Billy Bob Thornton) - he finds himself caught up in a web of intrigue, sex, and murder.
While I find the story to be well crafted and engaging and Penn's performance to be solid, it's really those colorful townsfolk that make the movie for me. Not surprisingly, my favorite of these characters is Joaquin Phoenix's hot-headed dimwit Toby ("The name's Toby N. Tucker. People around here call me TNT. You know why? 'Cause I'm just like dynamite, boy, and when I go off somebody gets hurt!) who thinks every man is trying to "make time" with his equally dimwitted girl Jenny (Claire Danes). However the whole cast is really great. Jon Voight as the blind homeless man spouting crazy stories, Jennifer Lopez as a young seductress with secrets to hide, Nick Nolte as her husband, and Powers Boothe as the town's sheriff. A few other familiar faces pop up as well, including Laurie Metcalf and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Liv Tyler (Phoenix's then girlfriend).
U Turn is a film that is perhaps a little light on substance, but delivers a really heavy dose of entertainment. I've loved it for a long time and while it's not my nomination, I really hope the other participants enjoy it as much as I do.
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