U-TURN
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
Oliver Stone, one of our most visceral directors, rarely makes
anything but engaging films. He received Oscars for his hard-hitting
PLATOON and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, but even his films like JFK,
which are nothing less than balderdash, are fascinating and involving
pieces of filmmaking. And when Stone tests our tolerance for violence,
as in NATURAL BORN KILLERS, he can enrage an audience. Like him or
hate him or both, his pictures are always in your face.
U-TURN can be argued to be one of Stone's most shocking films
since it is shockingly mediocre. People are likely to leave the
theater neither engaged nor enraged.
Although Stone may not operate on the edge in U-TURN, his Academy
Award winning cinematographer Robert Richardson does. Every frame is
oversaturated with grainy colors, and the images frequently jump as if
filmed with a strobe light. His obsession with panning and zooming
will have you ready to cry uncle before the end of the first reel.
Combined with the choppy, overediting by Hank Corwin and Thomas J.
Nordberg, the film takes on the nightmarish appearance of someone dying
of a caffeine overdose.
The script by John Ridley, which is based on his book "Stray
Dogs," relies on a stream of quirky characters to create his version of
a black comedy. With Stone as the director, half of Hollywood shows up
to take part. Liv Tyler, for example, has a cameo part that requires
her to walk into a bus station to buy a ticket. Now, that's a part I
could do.
The star of the film, and the only one worth seeing is Sean Penn.
In recent times Penn's talent has become increasing evident. Here, as
in this year's SHE'S SO LOVELY, he steals the show.
Penn, playing a not very successful gambler and crook named Bobby
Cooper, arrives in a dusty, Godforsaken town in the middle of the
Arizona desert. His car has a broken radiator hose, and the only
mechanic is a dishonest simpleton named Darrell. Billy Bob Thornton
plays Darrell with a face caked in grease like a cartoon character who
just walked into an explosion and with teeth that looks like he's been
eating dirt. Darrell flashes Bobby a smile that says "I am about to
take you for everything you have since I'm your only hope of getting
out of this hellhole." Penn later tells Bobby he is just "an ignorant,
inbred, tumbleweed hick." But, Bobby saves his best insult for last.
"Darrell," he asks. "40,000 people die every day. Why aren't you one
of them?"
When Penn wanders into town to get a bite to eat, he meets a
blind, part Indian, Vietnam veteran, overacted as almost a self-parody
by Jon Voight. The blind man is the local philosopher whose aphorisms
include, "Everything is everything." Is Voight really this far gone?
Why does this once excellent actor only takes roles that are
caricatures?
In this town, which would make a ghost town look appealing, Bobby
runs into its only shining light, Jennifer Lopez in her sexiest part
yet as Grace McKenna. After asking him up to her place to shower, her
grizzled husband Jake, played by an almost unrecognizable Nick Nolte,
walks in on them. Jake turns out to be a man with a highly malleable
conscience. Or as he puts it, "a man with no ethics is a free man."
The rest of the show involves contradictory murder plots and ends
in a typical Stone bloodbath. Along the way, we get to meet a host of
other characters including Powers Boothe as the shifty-eyed sheriff,
Claire Danes as the oversexed, local girl wanting to have Bobby's love
child, Joaquin Phoenix as her violent boyfriend, Julie Hagerty as a
cliched waitress named Flo and many others.
Penn saves the film, but just barely. His attempt to find sanity
in this Twilight Zone of a town manages to rise above the rest of the
all-too-cute material. A week after you have seen the show, only the
film's bold, but repetitiously tiring cinematographic techniques will
remain in your memory. Nothing else about the film is unusual enough
to be remembered, and that is the tragedy. Has Stone gone soft?
U-TURN runs 2:05. It is rated R for gore, sex, brief nudity, and
profanity. The film would be fine for older teenagers. For Penn's
performance I give the film a mild recommendation and ** 1/2.
**** = A must see film.
*** = Excellent show. Look for it.
** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable.
* = Poor show. Don't waste your money.
0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: October 1, 1997
Have I Seen This Movie: Yes
And What Did I Think?: I caught this picture on cable for lack of nothing better to do, and was mildly entertained. It held my attention for about half the movie, then kind of drifted nowhere fast and just got kind of silly at the end. Oliver Stone directed this and it looks like he was trying to resemble Natural Born Killers with its dark humor and strange characters. I think the best character in this movie is Billy Bob Thornton playing the weird garage attendant. Sean Penn wasn't too bad here as the main character who unwillingly gets stuck in a hick town. Jennifer Lopez has had better roles then this one however. There are a few other stars like Nick Nolte, Claire Danes, and even a cameo by Liv Tyler, but nothing of note here. If you have nothing better to do, its not bad sitting through, but catch this on cable rather then renting it.
I give U-Turn 2.5 out of 5 stars
Review written July 7, 1999
