Review #91: Joy Ride (2001)

Cast/Notable Credits:
John Dahl (Director): Rounders (1998)

Paul Walker (Lewis): Fast & Furious 1 (2001), 2 (2003) & 4 (2009), The Skulls (2000)

Steve Zahn (Fuller): National Security (2003), Daddy Day Care (2003), Sahara (2005)

Leelee Sobieski (Venna): The Glass House (2001), The Wicker Man (2006)

Matthew Kimbrough (Rusty Nail): The Astronaut Farmer (2006)

Trailer:



Plot:

Lewis is going to fly home to New Jersey from school in California. After talking to his love interest/crush Venna in Boulder, and learns that she is depressed and would like to have Lewis pick her up. Lewis decides to cash in his plane tickets and buy a cheap car to pick her up instead of flying. In Utah he bails his older brother Fuller out of jail. Fuller tags along for the ride.

While driving cross country, Fuller decides to play around on the car's old CB radio. He cons Lewis into portraying a girl on the CB radio and mess with some truckers. One of the truckers answers to Lewis impersonating a girl (CB handle: Candy Cane) over the radio. His CB handle is Rusty Nail.

They mess with Rusty Nail for the afternoon and then decide to check into a motel for the night. While Fuller is checking in at the motel, another very large customer is causing a ruckest with the clerk and pushes Fuller on the way out.

Fuller and Lewis decides to play a joke on him, by using the CB radio and asking for Rusty Nail to come to the hotel and get a treat from Candy Cane. They give Rusty the large customer's motel room and askes Rusty to bring a bottle of pink champagne with him.

Fuller and Lewis have the room next to the man, and listen in as Rusty makes his late night rendevous. The two men argue and a fight ensues followed by a thump. The next morning they learn that the man next door was found in a ditch nearly beaten to death. They explain to the police what they know and the police tell them to leave state by sun down.

Driving along the highway, Rusty Nail contacts them over the radio. They explain to him that it was a joke, there was no girl named Candy Cane and they were sorry.

Rusty: "You might wanna get that fixed."

Group: "What?"

Rusty: "Your tail light."

Rusty proceeds to stalk the two on the road, chasing them with his big rig. Rusty catches up with them and has them dead to right, when he lets up and disappears. Thinking that everything is cool, they proceed on the road.

Fuller and Lewis arrive in Boulder to pick up Venna (Leelee Sobieski pictured below) and meet her roommate Charlotte. The three continue on their journey home. Further down the road they receive a message from Rusty Nail who is surprised that there is a girl in the picture now, and he wants to play a game with them. They do not want anything to do with Rusty any more. But Rusty has kidnapped Venna's roomate Charlotte and forces them to play his game otherwise she dies.


Joy Ride is a blast! It's a great idea. A psychotic truck driver stalking young kids traveling cross country. Kick ass! I did have a problem with the film though. Like most driving cross country flicks, time lag is out of synch, and highways aren't that deserted and secluded.

As far as time lag, how long does it take to drive through a couple states? I've always wondered what route they drove for the movie. From California to some where in Nebraska they sleep three nights. Okay, I did a little research and math for this one.

From Berkley, CA to Salt Lake City: 727 miles ~ 10 hrs. 27 minutes at 70 mph
Lewis covered that the first day to pick up his brother. They went on to some unknown motel in Wyoming. In the movie they mention a town in Wyoming called Jamestown. I don't know if that's where they officially stayed the first night, but here's the math.

Salt Lake City to Jamestown, WY: 166 miles ~ 2 hrs. 27 minutes at 70 mph

Okay, that's Day 1. They covered 993 miles in 12 hrs. 54 min. and then stayed the night. I'm okay with that. It's possible. Day 2 on the other hand, from Jamestown to Cheyenne.

Jamestown, WY to Cheyenne, WY: 275 miles ~ 3 hrs. 51 minutes at 70 mph.

Day 2 they traveled 275 miles over the course of the day! They didn't encounter Rusty until late that night. How f*ckin' fast were they going? They made almost a 1000 miles the first day, and not even 300 miles the second day. WTF?

Day 3 went from Cheyenne, WY to Boulder, CO pick up Venna, head out and stop off at some motel in Nebraska. Even if they went to Lincoln, where that's 501 miles.

Cheyenne to Boulder: 91 miles ~ 1 hr 33 minutes
Boulder to Lincoln, NE: 501 miles ~ 6 hrs 58 minutes

That's 600 miles in Day 3. I can actually see that, because they pickup their girl friend, bull shitted for awhile. That's still more than Day 2. The film ends up in Medford. Which state...I don't f*ckin' know. The closest town of MedFord from their route is either going south to Oklahoma, or north to Minnesota. So the trip took a little longer that what it should have and to destinations that might not be practical. I guess you can't be perfect.

Other than the whole "driving" part of the movie, I didn't have too many problems. I know the film isn't a typical horror movie, it's more of a suspensful thriller. So when it came to grading the movie, the elements weren't up to par. But that was fine for this movie.

The TNA portion of the film was pretty bad. Leelee (pictured right) was the only thing to look at outside of a few glimpses of her hot roomate. None of the juicy stuff in the flick either. The film makers could have thrown in a couple more hotties if they tried, but they didn't.

Rusty Nail is a great villain, and did a good job in the flick. The audience never got a real good glimpse of his face, but we got plenty of his eerie voice. Being mysterious for the movie was actually a great idea. Any random trucker dude could have been Rusty. His truck was easy to spot, but he was not.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on October 5, 2001 and made $21.9 million at the Box Office ($7.3 million opening weekend)
-Ted Levine supplied the voice for Rusty Nail
-Car in the film is a 71' Chrysler Newport
-J.J. Abrams wrote and produced