Joy Ride (2001) Directed by John Dahl
I believe this is the first movie in my marathon this year that I have seen in the theater. I believe I was in 9th grade, and my mom took my friend Anthony and I to see this. This movie is one of those rare non-Fast and the Furious Paul Walker movies. Also this movie has Leelee Sobieski, which is a rare occurrence these days isn’t it? I could never decide if she was hot or not, she looks like a younger version of Helen Hunt, with nice boobs. I always enjoy Steve Zahn in basically anything he’s done, he’s always a smartass and he’s usually funny. I’m not sure if this is truly a horror movie or if it falls into that odd thriller category that borders horror. This movie was written by J.J. Abrams, which kind of surprised me, I guess I didn’t realize he has been around that long.
Summer comes along and Lewis Thomas (Walker) and his friend Venna Wilcox (Sobieski) whom are at different colleges both are backing to head home. Lewis is trying to get a relationship going with Venna so he offers to pick her up in his car, that he doesn’t own and drive her back with him. She agrees and Lewis sells his plane ticket to buy a car. Lewis calls his parents telling them his idea and they tell him that his troublesome brother Fuller (Zahn) has been arrested again, this time in Utah. Since Utah is on the way, Lewis decides to visit Fuller, whom he hasn’t seen in years. Lewis bails Fuller out, he comes with him on the trip. At a truck stop Fuller gets a CB Radio installed on the car and starts talking to truckers. He talks Lewis into pretending to be a woman and he talks to a trucker with the handle of Rusty Nail. Lewis has a lengthy conversation with the trucker using the handle Candy Cane. They stop for the night and tell Rusty Nail to meet them at a hotel and that he should bring pink champagne. They tell Rusty Nail that their room is #18, which is actually the room of a racist jerk next door. During the night Rusty Nail shows up and they hear shouting, then silence. Worried, Lewis calls the manager to check in with the man, the manager then calls him after calling the jerk and says there was no answer. The next day Fuller is talking to a cop when Lewis gets out of the bathroom. The cop takes them to see the jerk next door, whom is in a coma. The man is missing his bottom jaw and was found in the middle of the road. The brothers tell the cops what happened and they leave.
Farther down the road Rusty Nail gets back on the CB asking for the brothers. Lewis confesses that it was all a joke. Rusty asks for an apology and Fuller tells him to fuck off, then Rusty says they might want to get their taillight fixed. The guys freak out, knowing Rusty is behind them, but they need gas so they take an exit quickly hoping to fill up and go. Lewis calls the cops but doesn’t get an answer. Fuller fills up the tank and freaks out when an ice truck pulls in. They take off and the ice truck follows them. They stop when they reach a fence with a gate, the truck driver comes over and gives them Lewis’s credit card that he left at the station. The truck backs up and then gets plowed through by Rusty Nail. The boys take off through the gate and end up getting pinned between a tree and Rusty’s truck. Rusty Nail laughs it off saying he was just joking around with them, he backs up and leaves. The boys take off and throw the CB out of the window.
Lewis and Fuller make it to Colorado and pick up Venna, whom is wearing a tank top with no bra and you can easily see her nipples, like not just them popped up, but the full shape, I guess they don’t wear bras in Colorado. Like mentioned in the intro, Leelee Sobieski isn’t exactly hot, but she does have a nice set of boobs. There they meet Venna’s friend Charlotte whom is going home to San Antonio. They move on down the road and make it to Nebraska. Once in Nebraska, they stop at a hotel and they go to the bar. The three get drunk and have some laughs. They go back to their rooms and Fuller goes into Venna’s room hoping to score. Lewis is woken by a phone call, from Rusty Nail. Rusty is angry because he said that the boys told him that there wasn’t a girl with them. He explains that the girl isn’t Candy Cane. Rusty asks why his brother is in the room with Venna. Lewis takes off and warns them as they all run towards the car. They drive down the road and see a warning painted on the road signs to check the trunk. They get out and the old CB is in the trunk. They explain to Venna what happened, and they put the CB back in the car.
The next morning at the truck stop, Rusty makes Lewis and Fuller go into the stop completely naked, so they can feel the embarrassment he felt that one night. Venna tries to calm Rusty down, but it really doesn’t work. Later Rusty talks to them and you can hear Charlotte screaming in the background. After that Rusty chases them out into a cornfield trying to run them over. They narrowly escape the truck a few times until they get split up and Rusty kidnaps Venna. Rusty sets up a meeting for Fuller and Lewis at a motel, where he has set a trap that will kill the bound and gagged Venna if either of them tries to open the front door. Fuller tries to rescue her but Rusty injures him before he can help. Rusty tries to plow his truck into Fuller but Lewis saves him. Lewis runs into the room from the back door and saves Venna before the cops kick in the front door. Then Rusty Nail drives his truck into the room destroying everything. They open the cab door to find Charlotte tied up on the floor. Thinking that Rusty is dead, the three huddle around an ambulance and getting treated for their injuries. At this point the dead man is revealed to be the ice truck driver from earlier. A CB in the ambulance is on and the group hears Rusty Nail’s voice again.
This movie is actually quite good, and the acting is decent. It may be Paul Walker’s best job, which isn’t really saying that much because he kind of sucked. Steve Zahn plays his regular smartass character but he is great. Leelee Sobieski is kind of wooden and odd, but that just maybe how she is in real life, not sure I don’t know much about her. Ted Levine does the voice of Rusty Nail and his voice is awesome, he’s the dad from The Hills Have Eyes remake, if you don’t know who he is. This movie is kind of a play off from the old Spielberg movie “Duel” which is awesome by the way, watch it. The small amount of gore in this is pretty solid, the man with the missing jaw is terrifying. There are some rather tense scenes in this movie, like the cornfield chase and the ending with Venna bound to the chair with a shotgun pointed at her face. I would suggest this movie to people who aren’t exactly horror fans but want a good tense scare for the Halloween season. Also women seem to love Paul Walker, for some reason. I would give this movie a B, it has that nostalgic feel for me and I love a good car chase movie. One more thing, Happy Back to the Future Day!
