Roadside Prophets

For those late nights when all you have to entertain yourself with is a TV and a good buzz, "Roadside Prophets" saves. This movie has been hailed as the, "best ever" and that is quite a stretch but, I love it to death nonetheless. I got sucked into it when I noticed Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz was in it. He may not be the best actor but he is interesting enough to pull it off. There are many cameos by some of my favorite personalities. What makes this movie great are the lazy scenes out on the road and somewhat non existent plot. It's one of those flicks that let you leave the couch when you really can't. Roadside Prophets gives you the feel of total freedom and crazy misadventures out on the open roads of America's west. For the first time in 38 years I am tempted to buy a bike (but I wont).

top 3 movies are kill bill, mall rats, and roadside prophets. of those three, i recommend this one equally, this says a lot since those films rule... i can recite this flick word for word, and do. this is a necessary movie on so many levels, it costars the Beastie Boys ad-rock, who is a great Thespian, it also has some really rad cameos, Arlo Guthrie, Timothy Leary, John Cusac, and David "KILL BILL" Carodine too... all the cameos, like Red Hot Chili Peppers FLEA, all are so good. this is the best easy rider flick, better than easy rider... a must see... you should go rent it, or buy it now...

I really enjoyed this film, it's worth the price of admission just for the scenes with John Cusack. Overall this is a great flick. I just wonder how it is rated as 5.4/10 when the mean is 7.4 and the median vote is 8.0. I am beginning to think that IMDb rates the movies the way it wants to and then claims weighted ratings. So the films they like get rated higher than ones they don't care for. It's really to bad this is not yet out on DVD it is well worth owning. OK now to mind flow just to make up three more lines of text, anything in particular that needs to be addressed? I didn't think so. Well I think IMDb ratings system is screwy, and this makes the tenth line so I am finished.

I enjoyed the movie immensely. Sometimes it reminded me of the 1992 "Highway To Hell" movie, which also seems a bit of a "trip". Being a biker helps when seeing this movie. One 'understands' it, like teens are supposed to 'understand' "Wayne's World". At times one doesn't quite understand some of the 'visions' the characters have, and one has to guess. Basically, it's a biker fantasy (the boss' daughter on the phone covering for the biker cos she's got a crush on him) with some dark comedy thrown in. I'd say it's almost a "serious" Cheech & Chong type of movie.

This laid back, low key and off-beat homage to Easy Rider set against the scorched Nevada desert was a treat to watch. John Doe plays Joe, a Harley-loving loner who leaves his factory job and sets out to find "Eldorado", Nevada where he plans to spread the ashes of Dave, an amiable biker he met in a bar and who had the misfortune to be electrocuted while playing a video game. There's a lovely sense of the absurd to the proceedings as Joe pours Dave's ashes into a sky-blue motorcylce gas tank which he straps to the back of his 50's vintage hog and heads out down the highway. He's pursued by a Sam, a kid with an obsession with Motel 9's and a puppy dog determination to ride with Joe and become his friend. If there's a weak link it's Adam Horovitz as Sam. The character is underwritten and Horovitz just doesn't make it work. But what's really nice about the film is the whimsical, darkly comic look back in fondness to the spirit of the sixties as embodied in guest appearances by Arlo Guthrie and Timothy Leary. Arlo runs a restaurant (not Alices'!) and Tim drives a tow truck. Great turns by both as they wax philosophical on the mysteries and meaning of life. David Carradine does a cool and hilarious cameo as Othello, a hooka smoking desert guru. The tone of the film is playful with a nice tongue in cheek sense of humor that is very hip. While the main storyline falters occasionally there's a nicely crafted and very funny subplot carried on by telephone between Joe and a woman who works in personnel at Joe's plant. The star turn of this flawed gem goes to John Cusack who does an astounding and hilarious performance and a poverty activist whose does his bit for the movement by ordering massive amounts of food at restaurants, stuffing his face then doing a classic "dine and dash" routine. He shows up twice and is a treat to watch. The ending falls a little flat but the climax of the film works just fine as Joe finally finds "Eldorado", a tiny Nevada oasis of neon and casinos where they bet everything on Dave's dream. An easy film to watch and enjoy for those who were there.

As road trip movies go, it's subtle and (perhaps too) familiar. Joe (no last name) decides to honor a stranger's last request, and deliver his ashes to an oasis in Nevada. Along the way he discovers the citizens of Today's America: the rebels whose time has passed, the franchise minimum-wagers, the common people in their varying degrees of lunacy... As he drives farther and farther from his old life, the purpose of his trip morphs into a larger exploration of the journey that everyone makes, the journey of life... John Doe's "Joe" pulls off the everyman bit, the straight man for everyone else to prosletyze to and joke around. His only job in the movie seems to be the audience's advocate, reflecting their reactions to the strangeness in the desert. Adam Horowitz's "Sam" is more than the lively sidekick; he represents the end result of being raised in modern times. A pathological liar, a pyro and a lemming, he's the motherless child that considers every location of the Motel 9 franchise his home. Overall, the movie feels as staged as an above-average Afterschool Special. The cameos feel like stunts (Mike Tyson's appearance in CROCODILE DUNDEE IN LA was more believable) and the intentions are so clear from the beginning that the trip seems redundant. And the point? It would seem to be as Sir Edmund Hilary reasoned for climbing Everest; "because it's there." As a road trip, it's more a pleasant afternoon than the journey of a million miles. 5/10 stars

It's another one of those collections of weirdos movies which seem to be the modus operandi of independent filmmakers. The best cameo belongs to John Cusack who plays Casper, the friendly pirate. He believes that there should be "free food for everyone." Yeah man, like, yeah. John Doe, everyman in name and features, takes an annoying dead guy's ashes to the homespun casino where everybody knew his name and they were glad he spent his money. It takes him the better part of the film to find it. He asks many, including Timothy Leary, who couldn't help him either, and finally dumps his remains in the desert. If, like me, you were perusing the oeuvre of Jennifer Balgobin, you may be interested to know that after an amusingly spastic exotic dance, she reveals her right nipple. Nice, but not worth having to listen to Abbe Wool's hippie logic or Adam Horowitz's every word. Best enjoyed by those who lived, and liked, the 60's or those who think that Easy Rider is a classic.

The main character of this film is on a journey to find a place his dead friend (who he knew for all of 3 hours) talked about and scatter his ashes there. Along the way he bumps into a young man with an obsession with a chain of motels and fireworks who eventually ends up following him everywhere. They become friends (sort-of) and have a very strange adventure indeed. I bought this film to see Adam Horowitz and he gave a great performance. John Doe was average at best but the star had to be John Cusack in a small cameo. Worth watching if you like very odd films. I do so I give it **** out of *****!

Not a bad film; it had a good story line and plot. The two leads do a good (not great) job acting. The writing is a bit weak, OK, it' downright bad. The cinematography is OK to good. The soundtrack is average. I wanted to like this film and the storyline kept me interested, "but" the secondary actors are terrible, there isn't a good one in the bunch. It's almost as if there were cue cards off camera. The direction is quite poor. Even Cusack's small roll seemed forced and ridiculous. They made the film difficult to watch. It was all I could do to give this movie a six star rating.

This is definitely one of those kick back in your sofa, light up and flow movies. The subdued plotline is warm and insightful and the many cameos in this movie are always a surprise waiting around the next corner. If you are walking the path or surfin the wave like some of the rest of us, check this movie out.