Load of rubbish!!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Recently revisited JOY RIDE for the first time in years. John Dahl is a guy I can get behind...his early noir triumvirate (KILL ME AGAIN, RED ROCK WEST and THE LAST SEDUCTION) is marvelous while ROUNDERS is as essential to my existence as my heart flow.I love southwestern road movies...they're eerily transfixing, with their varied landscapes and desultory byroads that contain the very essence of America's identity. DUEL, RACE WITH THE DEVIL, THE HITCHER, BREAKDOWN, that stuff's great.JOY RIDE excels in all the same areas those movies did for exactly half of its running time. Two brothers bonding to outwit and evade a psychotic trucker (voiced by the wonderfully menacing Ted Levine) is pitch-perfect in pacing, thrills, and atmosphere.Everything changes once Leelee enters the picture. The plot becomes incoherent, the chemistry is sabotaged, and the well-earned tension is shattered. Worse yet, the decision to reveal the antagonist is not only jarring (this is clearly not the Mr. Lotion we all know fondly), it evaporates the air of mystery around his character. Had this movie stuck with the brothers while relegating Rusty Nail to just some deranged, detached voice on a CB radio, we'd have a near classic on our hands.JOY RIDE comes recommended, with a caveat that it could have been better.

Joyride, although pretty far fetched, is a white hot highway set thriller in the vein of The Hitcher or Duel, that jabs in all the right places for wonderfully cheap thrills and a trashy, almost midnite movie style aesthetic that's refreshing. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and at the same time shows us unrelentingly grim events unfolding that might actually be possible, walking a steady tightrope between camp and genuine fear. Paul Walker, that handsome devil, plays Lewis, a nice guy on a road trip with his screw up ex con brother Fuller (eternally goofy Steve Zahn in full ham mode). They are making their way across the southwest to pick up Venna (Leelee Sobieski), Lewis's friend, which he plans to change. Also along for the ride is an old CB radio that Fuller hauls along for his own amusement, listening in on trucker jargon tossed across the airwaves. Soon they stumble on an ominous frequency, presided over by a growling denizen with the moniker 'Rusty Nail'. Something's clearly not quite right with this weirdo, but being the dumbbells they are, they foolishly play a pretty mean prank on him over the air, causing him to snap. Rusty Nail isn't just some lonely trucker, but a belligerent, unforgiving psychopath, and worse, he's smart. He launches a backroad crusade to torment and psychologically intimidate the two of them, continuing on when they meet up with Venna. The voice of Rusty Nail is provided by one other than veteran cowboy Ted Levine, using his guttural, menacing drawl to wonderful effect, and hitching the movie up a few notches just by doing so. Telling you to put the lotion in the basket is nothing compared to the threats we get to hear him utter here. Walker, Zahn and Sobieski hold up their end well enough, but are mostly there to be frantic, idiotic bullseye targets for the unseen monster trawling the interstate after them through the night. Much of it is silly and stretches the boundaries of credibility, but it's all in wicked good fun, and always has a knowing sense of what it takes to make a high concept, low morale style thriller work. Just remember... Rusty Nail needs to find Candy Cane.

"Joy Ride" might not be a groundbreaking thriller and sometimes it's pretty silly but it's got its moments and I had fun with it overall. Yes, I realize now that the franchise has turned into full-on horror, but this movie is actually a thriller. It's about a nice guy (Paul Walker as Lewis), his screw-up of a brother Fuller (Steve Zahn) and Lewis' longtime crush Venna (Leelee Sobieski) traveling on the highway when they mess with the wrong guy. After a prank that is not really all that mean-spirited, a trucker begins mercilessly stalking them, and the guy's idea of "getting even" is much too close to "murder" for everyone else's tastes.What I liked about the movie above all is that Steve Zahn and Paul Walker make a convincing set of brothers. I feel like they had some really good, organic dynamics together. I also enjoyed the overall pace of the movie. It keeps moving and coming up with interesting concepts and setups to keep its audience entertained as these people are chased all over the place by this villain. Speaking of which, "Rusty Nail" (as he is called) works as a villain that is partially threatening, psychotic, sympathetic and funny. It keeps the violence to a tasteful level and if you're looking for a horror/thriller film that has a bit of bite but never goes into very gruesome levels (save maybe for a brief scene in the beginning) it's fun and has some good laughs too. I just happened to own this movie on DVD and if you do too, or if you're renting I have to point out something that I usually don't for these reviews. The DVD includes what is without a doubt the most extensive set of alternate endings I've ever seen. One of them is almost a completely different film due to its 30+ min. running time so there's some good bang for your buck here too. Good stuff. (On DVD, October 30, 2012)

En route to pick up a friend (the gorgeous Leelee Sobieski) the late Paul Walker (pre his Fast & The Furious fame) and Steve Zahn play a prank using a CB radio on a truck driver, unaware of the murderous lengths he will go to to get his revenge. I'm not normally a fan of these types of movies, but nothing else was on TV, so I decided to give it a go and I'm glad I did.It reminded me a lot of Duel (Steven Spielberg's first movie, starring Dennis Weaver being pursued by a manic truck driver) which I was a big fan of growing upPaul Walker is certainly a good looking guy, and Zahn is perfectly cast as his troublesome older brother, but it's Sobieski I remembered long after that movie ended. And it is not just because she is an obviously talented actress, she is. It's because she seemed to spend the entire movie with permanently erect nipples, after making the mistake of going bra less for most of the movie. It's not like me to complain over such things (and I certainly didn't object to spending my time staring at her) but I found it distracting, and it took a bit away from the movie. I loved the cliffhanger ending too.