Like another reviewer, I'm glad I saw this on IFC instead of paying for a ticket in a theater. Is the lead's name really John Doe? After seeing this mess I thought it was a fake name he used to hide behind. He's not a bad actor, it's the script that reeks -- if they had one. I suspect most of the movie was improvised. The cameos by Arlo Guthrie and Tim Leary are interesting, especially Arlo's rambling tale. He's a master of that genre.
I sometimes enjoy a real "golden turkey," but Roadside Prophets wasn't quite bad enough for the achievement of "so bad it's good." It comes fairly close, but the cinematography and editing are competent enough to keep it out of the "Plan Nine from Outer Space" clan.
The title is excellent -- if only the roadside characters they meet had lived up to it. A more honest title might have been "Roadside Pseudo-philosophical Ramblings." It could have been billed as America's brain-damaged response to the film "Mindwalk".
I'm giving it four stars instead of the three I originally rated it because I was impressed with the huckster-style of the trailer. Together, the movie and the trailer prove anything can be made to sound good with the right sales pitch.
If you want to see a really good, bad movie shot in Nevada, check out "Never Leave Nevada". I saw it many years ago at Sundance and it's a gem from Bizzaro Nevada school of minimal budget strangeness.
I sometimes enjoy a real "golden turkey," but Roadside Prophets wasn't quite bad enough for the achievement of "so bad it's good." It comes fairly close, but the cinematography and editing are competent enough to keep it out of the "Plan Nine from Outer Space" clan.
The title is excellent -- if only the roadside characters they meet had lived up to it. A more honest title might have been "Roadside Pseudo-philosophical Ramblings." It could have been billed as America's brain-damaged response to the film "Mindwalk".
I'm giving it four stars instead of the three I originally rated it because I was impressed with the huckster-style of the trailer. Together, the movie and the trailer prove anything can be made to sound good with the right sales pitch.
If you want to see a really good, bad movie shot in Nevada, check out "Never Leave Nevada". I saw it many years ago at Sundance and it's a gem from Bizzaro Nevada school of minimal budget strangeness.