JOY RIDE

In this cross between Duel and I Saw What You Did, two brothers pranking with a CB radio attract the attention of a sicko piloting a big rig. Steeped in the Americana of truck stops and motels, this widescreen chiller is designed to appeal to retro sensibilities. The heroes drive a 1971 Chrysler Newport. The platonic romance of college students Paul Walker and Leelee Sobieski harks back to the Dobie Gillis era; so does the prevalence of scenes in which males are feminized or humiliated. The script, co-written by Clay Tarver (Chavez, Bullet LaVolta), iý garnished with oddball lines. The one I liked best was Sobieski’s deadpan observation, after she and her roadmates pass the series of Burma Shave–style messages their tormentor has left for them, that “that’s a pretty elaborate thing to do, to paint those road signs.” Director John Dahl (Red Rock West, The Last Seduction) has a reputation for cleverness and style, but in trying to make a dumb thriller that stays just a little above the normal level of dumb thrillers, he comes off here as merely skillful when not mechanical (the prolonged climax is more aggravating than suspenseful).

— Chris Fujiwara