I just bumped into "Interstate 60" on TV. It puzzled me, at first.
Due to the somewhat cheapish look of the film and the surreal subject matter, I initially thought that I was watching an episode of the newest "Twilight Zone" series. Then I realized there were simply too many famous actors cropping up for this to be a TV production. Gary Oldman, Chris Cooper, Ann-Margaret, Kurt Russell - dang, that's actually a great cast! I still couldn't tell what on Earth I was watching, though.
Well, thanks to the magic of IMDb, I know now that "Interstate 60" is an indie flick, courtesy of "Back to the Future" scribe Bob Gale. I'm not too surprised to find out that it has weird origins. And I'm also not too surprised that lots of people love it, and lots of people hate it, judging from the user comments I've scanned.
My opinion is somewhere between the extremes. I was intrigued enough by the movie to keep watching, even though it was pretty darn late when I started. The social satire, though obvious, sort of amused me, and I was curious to see where it was going.
The trouble with a movie like this, though, is that its greatest strengths are also its weaknesses. The aggressive "oddness" of the film is compelling, but it kept me at a distance from the characters. In other words, the people and the proceedings were a little too surreal for their own good. It's interesting stuff, yeah, but I'm not too sure that it's profound or deep or anything. The general storyline of a young artist trying to "find" himself is actually pretty basic, run-of-the-mill material; only the weird execution makes it memorable.
On the acting end, I really had no problem with James Marsden's performance, unlike a lot of other commentators on this site. I find him to be a pretty charismatic actor, and I was glad to see him in a starring role for a change (I'm used to him playing second fiddle in super-hero films). But I've got to give the acting laurels to Chris Cooper, who steals every scene he's in. I became genuinely fond of his character, but not really anybody else.
In the end, I enjoyed this. I was glad to see Gale mock aspects of contemporary society that I can really do without - rampant substance abuse, out-of-control litigation, etc. He wasn't exactly subtle in his approach here, but he was memorable. And that's worth something, right?
Also, the movie's got the Pink Power Ranger as a crazy seductress! Nice bonus there. I could certainly think of worse movies to watch at 2 AM.
Due to the somewhat cheapish look of the film and the surreal subject matter, I initially thought that I was watching an episode of the newest "Twilight Zone" series. Then I realized there were simply too many famous actors cropping up for this to be a TV production. Gary Oldman, Chris Cooper, Ann-Margaret, Kurt Russell - dang, that's actually a great cast! I still couldn't tell what on Earth I was watching, though.
Well, thanks to the magic of IMDb, I know now that "Interstate 60" is an indie flick, courtesy of "Back to the Future" scribe Bob Gale. I'm not too surprised to find out that it has weird origins. And I'm also not too surprised that lots of people love it, and lots of people hate it, judging from the user comments I've scanned.
My opinion is somewhere between the extremes. I was intrigued enough by the movie to keep watching, even though it was pretty darn late when I started. The social satire, though obvious, sort of amused me, and I was curious to see where it was going.
The trouble with a movie like this, though, is that its greatest strengths are also its weaknesses. The aggressive "oddness" of the film is compelling, but it kept me at a distance from the characters. In other words, the people and the proceedings were a little too surreal for their own good. It's interesting stuff, yeah, but I'm not too sure that it's profound or deep or anything. The general storyline of a young artist trying to "find" himself is actually pretty basic, run-of-the-mill material; only the weird execution makes it memorable.
On the acting end, I really had no problem with James Marsden's performance, unlike a lot of other commentators on this site. I find him to be a pretty charismatic actor, and I was glad to see him in a starring role for a change (I'm used to him playing second fiddle in super-hero films). But I've got to give the acting laurels to Chris Cooper, who steals every scene he's in. I became genuinely fond of his character, but not really anybody else.
In the end, I enjoyed this. I was glad to see Gale mock aspects of contemporary society that I can really do without - rampant substance abuse, out-of-control litigation, etc. He wasn't exactly subtle in his approach here, but he was memorable. And that's worth something, right?
Also, the movie's got the Pink Power Ranger as a crazy seductress! Nice bonus there. I could certainly think of worse movies to watch at 2 AM.