U-Turn Movie Review
This movie would get a “WOOF!” if Jennifer Lopez weren't in it. If you want to see a neo-noir entry that's done right, watch John Dahl's Red Rock West. If you want to watch Roadrunner cartoons, by all means watch them. And if you want le bad noir and live-action cartoons scrambled together for 125 minutes, this is your movie. Both Oliver Stone and Jon Voight (as a blind man) EARNED their Golden Raspberry nominations for this one. I'd have nominated Claire Danes for running around in a “Don't Bug Me” T-shirt and shrieking in a bad Southern accent that she wants to have Sean Penn's love child when she's already going with Joaquin Phoenix. Someone: Get this girl a map and show her that Arizona is not in the Deep South. Sean Penn struggles along with a “Who do I have to sleep with to get out of this movie?” expression, only lightening up when he gets to do an update of Duel in the Sun with Lopez. Ah, Jennifer Lopez…when she's onscreen you may actually think that U-Turn isn't THAT bad, but whenever she goes away, YOU KNOW. Julie Hagerty has a bit as a haggard waitress, Bo Hopkins has a bit, Liv Tyler has a bit, Powers Boothe is the sheriff…oh, and Nick Nolte gets to be one of those guys who wants his wife dead, then she wants him dead, then they make up, then he wants her dead, then she wants him dead, then you'll lose count. And guess what? “She's my wife! She's my daughter! She's my wife and my daughter!” (Sound familiar?) Billy Bob Thornton goes through the whole movie without a bath, even when he's getting ready to play a game of Twister with a girl. Like Otto Preminger's Skidoo, U-Turn’s a mess, but you just may be in the mood for a mess some night. AKA: Stray Dogs.
1997 (R) 125m/C Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Claire Danes, Nick Nolte, Joaquin Rafael (Leaf) Phoenix, Powers Boothe, Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Voight, Abraham Benrubi, Julie Hagerty, Bo Hopkins, Valery Nikolaev, Aida Linares, Laurie Metcalf, Liv Tyler; D: Oliver Stone; W: John Ridley; C: Robert Richardson; M: Ennio Morricone. Nominations: Golden Raspberry Awards ‘97: Worst Supporting Actor (Voight), Worst Director (Stone). VHS, LV, Closed Caption, DVD