Bike Boy Reviews

Return of the Scorcher (1992)

Beautiful exploration of bike culture worldwide.

[10/10 · 6 December 1999]

This short bike-umentary is a must-see for anyone who loves bicycles or has any interest in transportation reform. I've seen this film many times now and its message is still fresh: The bicycle is used as a primary mode of transportation worldwide and it should be used this way in America as well.

Ted White intersperses telling interviews with first class footage of bicycle use from the US to Amsterdam to China. Inherent in this documentary's exploration of America's relationship with the bicycle is a potent critique of our society's love affair with the automobile. If you haven't ridden your bike for a while, you'll want to after seeing this film!

An interesting side note: The Critical Mass movement got its name from a fascinating scene in this documentary.

Hideous Kinky (1998)

A choppy, plot-deficient melodrama.

[2/10 · 3 December 1999]

Choppy, choppy, choppy. After the first 20 minutes, I was beginning to wonder if this film had a plot at all. The director couldn't stay focused on one scene long enough to engage me in the story. What story? Trust me, I could sum it up in one fragmented sentence, but I don't want to be blacklisted. One technique annoyingly overdone is ending scenes with one of the characters staring pensively off into the distance while the next song from the MTV soundtrack begins. The only redeeming quality to Hideous Kinky for me was some fairly good photography, but it wasn't good enough to warrant one hour and 40 minutes of disjointed storytelling.