James D. Leverton 2004-10-03
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
I've never recommended a DVD solely for the director's commentary before, but I'm doing just that with Nickolas Perry's "Speedway Junky" (1999). The film itself is a totally predictable, sanitized view of Las Vegas street hustlers that contains two very good performances (one by someone you'd never expect), one terrible performance by a badly miscast former child star and a dual ending that is both misguided and, in the case of the tacked-on "happy" ending, insulting to the audience's intelligence. In all, "Speedway Junky" is a definite mixed bag; however, the DVD version is redeemed by an excellent director's commentary in which writer/director Perry provides an honest critique of his own work and gives an invaluable lesson on the process of making an independent film in today's Hollywood.
Jesse Bradford, who as a child gave one of 1992's best performances in Steven Soderberg's forgotten gem "King of the Hill," stars as Johnny, a teenage drifter who is hitchhiking from Los Angeles to Daytona Beach to join the Nascar circuit as a pit crew worker. To fund his journey, he takes a detour to Las Vegas, hoping to parlay his meager assets into enough money to complete his trip and then live on until he finds work. Unfortunately, within minutes of his arrival in town, he loses his money and all his possessions. His circumstances look bleak until he catches the eye of Eric (Jordan Brower), a gay teenage street hustler who falls in love with him at first sight and takes him in. Eric also initiates him into his seedy world and extended family, including his adopted "mother," an ex-showgirl and junky wonderfully played by Daryl Hannah, and various friends and "associates," including a shady fellow hustler named Steven (Jonathan Taylor Thomas). Although Johnny is straight, he and Eric form a strong friendship and bond which gets them both through the bleak days ahead, as Johnny vainly tries to earn money by hustling women and Eric's shady friends threaten their very existence.
The main problem with "Speedway Junky" is that it so predictable that the audience will know exactly how it is going end almost from the moment it starts. It is also extremely derivative of countless earlier, and better, films, including its obvious main source of inspiration--John Schlesinger's 1969 Oscar winner "Midnight Cowboy." As for the performances, they are uneven, to say the least. Jesse Bradford is an excellent young actor, but he overacts constantly and gives a totally annoying performance as Johnny, which isn't good when you are the film's hero. And poor Jonathan Taylor Thomas is simply horrible as the devious hustler Steven; in fact, after the shock value of hearing the clean-cut former child star use four letter words and graphically describe anal sex is over, his entire act becomes tiresome until late in the film when he is required to become vicious and then he is laughable. On the other hand, Hannah is wonderful as a faded beauty who has hit rock-bottom, and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen and Patsy Kensit have nice cameos as two of Johnny's potential female "tricks." And then there's Jordan Brower, who is simply wonderful as Eric, giving the kind of eye-opening, and wholly unexpected, performance that in a better, and more widely-seen, film would have brought him a great deal of attention. He is simply working at a level the rest of the cast, with the exception of Hannah, don't come close to reaching. In fact, his scenes with Hannah provide all of the film's best, and most realistic moments. (Take special note of Eric's "breakdown" scene which is beautifully rendered.)
As for the film's other problems, they are numerous and start with the weak screenplay, which ends by trashing the most sympathetic character in the film and then tacks on a happy ending that is unbelievable, to say the least. But don't take my word for it, just listen to writer/director Perry's own commentary, which leads me back to where I began. The commentary is extremely illuminating in that Perry explains every single detail of the production of the film and why he did the things he did. Why did he add a silly, and unnecessary chase scene halfway through? Why was Jonathan Taylor-Thomas cast in a role he was clearly wrong for? Why does he have a long and boring credit sequence at the beginning when it clearly hurts the flow of the film? And why the heck did he trash the one gay character in the film and not predict that audiences would hate him for it? For that matter, why did he include the ridiculous final scene? He answers all these questions and in the process teaches us all that even in today's independent film world, to get financing for a film you have to make the same kind of compromises that are necessary when working with the studios. It is an eye-opening lesson, to be sure, and one that all aspiring filmmakers would do well to learn from.
In all, "Speedway Junky" is a failure, and an extremely unlucky one at that. After sitting on the shelf for two years it finally received a theatrical run at the Regent Theater in Los Angeles starting on August 30, 2001. Eleven days later the twin towers fell and moviegoing did a nose-dive, ending whatever chance this film had of having a theatrical life. It's right where it belongs--on DVD, with its excellent commentary giving it a reason for existence. ** (out of *****) for the film and **** for the commentary.
