Well, well, well. It seems that young Paul Walker has done what many thought to be impossible: he’s actually gone out and made a good movie. Paul has starred in many of what have been considered the worst movies. The Skulls, anyone? Varsity Blues? Don’t let the hokey title of this one throw you off; Joy Ride is a very well-directed thriller/horror flick that somehow manages to avoid almost all of the cliches and the gore inherent in both of these genres.
Also starring Steve Zahn of That Thing You Do! and Saving Silverman fame, and Leelee Sobieski who seems to be in every movie nowadays, Joy Ride tells the story of two brothers. Lewis (Walker) and Fuller (Zahn), who are on their way home for the holidays, make a prank call via C.B. radio to a trucker with the eerie label Rusty Nail. Hoping to get a few laughs out of Rusty, and to score some revenge on a rude businessman they meet a motel, the boys set up a rendezvous between Rusty and the fictitious Candy Cane, who claims that she wants to meet the trucker for some nookie. But little does Rusty know that Candy Cane is really Lewis and the rendezvous is really with the businessman.
As the sun rises on the next day, Lewis and Fuller find out that playing with people’s emotions may not be the best of ideas. While tucked safely away in their motel rooms, Rusty has been busy at work on the businessman who, when found, has had his entire lower jaw ripped clean off. You know what happens next.
Really, though, you don’t. Yes, there are the prerequisite Duel-esque chase scenes and creepy alleyways, but Joy Ride never dips too much in one direction. Zahn’s Fuller and Sobieski’s Venna add just the right amount of humor and sexuality to Walker’s responsible yet equally over his head Lewis. To put it bluntly, Zahn is friggin’ hilarious in this movie. But, as with all else here, nothing is over the top and at times the plot is actually believable. Every time I thought it was going to slide into rehashed territory, it either finds a plausible way out or throws a nastily clever twist at you. Best of all, you never really find out who or what is chasing after them.
And again, there is almost no gore at all. Quite a thing for a horror movie nowadays. It seems that for once Hollywood knew how to tone it down without losing any effect. Remarkable considering the amount of real horror we see on the news every day that now, in the midst of true tragedy, they finally get it. At least this time.
+ marc ruppel
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.