U Turn

U TURN (18)
D: Oliver Stone
Tristar/Phoenix/Illusion (Dan Halsted & Clayton Townsend)
US 1997
125 mins

Thriller

W: John Ridley [based on his novel "Stray Dogs"]
DP: Robert Richardson 
Ed: Hank Corwin & Thomas J. Nordberg
Mus: Ennio Morricone


Sean Penn (Bobby Cooper), Nick Nolte (Jake McKenna), Jennifer Lopez (Grace McKenna), Powers Boothe (Sheriff Virgil Potter), Claire Danes (Jenny), Joaquin Phoenix (Toby Tucker), Billy Bob Thornton (Darrell), Jon Voight (Blind Indian)

Sean Penn plays a luckless drifter whose classic convertible breaks down in a remote desert town with a bagful of gambling money stashed in the boot.
During his delay while the car undergoes repairs, he meets all kind of strange people in the town's population, including a husband and wife who are scheming to murder each other.
The plot had previously been done to much better effect in 1993's Red Rock West, and while Sean Penn stands out amongst the cast, it's mostly because everyone else is so awful rather than Penn delivering anything truly spectacular.
Only director Oliver Stone knows why he shot the film stylistically as though it were a bad hangover.
4/10

U Turn
U Turn