It starts out with a grindhouse feel, the grainy picture, loud soundtrack, old/fast cars, and also seemed very reminiscent of Death Proof, but with a female driver this time. So, as I’m trying to get into it, I have my first WTF moment in the first 5 minutes, where a motorcycle pulls over, the dude takes off his helmet, and has a painted clown face. A clown? Did dude just get off work and head home before showering? I guess not all clowns travel/carpool in those really small cars with other clowns, but wouldn’t you know it, he ends up a little later in a VW Bug anyway.
Our Death Proof chick, Fay, is tough (you can tell by the leather jacket and the biker boots), likes to hustle at the pool hall, and show just how fast her car really is, taking suckers money left and right. The clown, although I'm not yet sure of his motive (maybe it’s hate of being a friggin clown, that would suck right?), goes through cars and people like there’s no tomorrow. He also has a liking for anything that will take him to an alternative world, whether it be snorted, smoked, inhaled, or popped. It’s still early in the movie, but I’m guessing the final showdown will be between the clown and the tough chick. But wait, then enters Devil Girl, but she's only there long enough to smoke a joint, and then she’s gone.
Fay’s ride runs out of gas, so she must hike to nearest town and stay the night until the mechanic can get to it. This is where she has her first face-to-face run-in with Mr. Clown, but nothing really happens, as he just stares at her kinda dumbfounded. See, when she stopped earlier to get gas, he stole her wallet, so in order to make money, she has to strip. She’s cute, slender, long-legged, and has a nice little set of perkies, which seems to please the local pervs, and earns her enough money to pay for her motel room. She learns the next morning that her fuel pump is shot, so she’ll have to spend a few more nights, and heads back to the club to make more dough.
Up comes WTF moment #2, when after a long night of taking off her clothes, Fay hears someone lurking outside her room, so she pulls a screwdriver out of her duffle bag for protection. A screwdriver? Who (but grease monkeys) carries a screwdriver with them? A knife, yes, a gun, yes, mace or a taser, yes, a beat stick, yes, a screwdriver, no (unless it's a phillips). Granted, a screwdriver can do some friggin damage, but there are more practical, compact weapons that one can conceal.
Devil Girl seems to pop up everywhere, in the club, in the church to haunt the local pastor, who seems to have an evil side (don't they all?), and finally, to Fay, who has a sexual interlude with her. Fay’s car gets fixed, and she gets back on the road, but not before she’s chased by the perv motel owner, and helped out by the clown. The movie ends with Donald (the clown), now a normal looking guy, in a mental institution surrounded by all of those who were major characters in the story, but who are actually his nurse, orderly, or fellow patients. Haven’t we seen this premise before?
But, despite the similarities to other films, I liked this much more than I thought I would. Maybe it was the lead actress, Jessica Graham, maybe it was the nudity, maybe it was the ridiculous clown, I can’t really pin-point it, but I liked it and would watch it again. And, as far as Mr. Clown goes, he’s like Rodney Dangerfield, and can’t seem to get any respect. He’s constantly thrown out of the strip club, gets evil glares from everyone around, and continually has to fight his demons, mostly drug induced. The words that come out of his mouth are ridiculous, redundant, and only at times, a little chuckle-worthy, and even though he tries to be as witty as Heath Ledger’s Joker, he doesn’t even come close to Jack Nicholson’s, but I still couldn’t hate him. I never quite understood why they chose a clown, but I guess that’s what one might see being overmedicated on prescription drugs. A friend once told me that when he dropped acid, he saw Smurfs breakdancing on the hood of his car, so I guess clowns don’t seem that far-fetched after all.
This film is worth a watch, and I can see big things in Jessica Graham’s future. She has the talent, and a certain stardom quality, that I think can help break her into the mainstream, that is, if that's what she wants. Give it a watch and let me know what you think.
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OVERALL RATING--3-- |
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