Grand Theft Parsons is a 2003comedy-drama film based on the true story of country rock musicianGram Parsons (played byGabriel Macht), who died of an overdose in 1973. Parsons and his road manager,Phil Kaufman (Johnny Knoxville), made a pact in life that whoever died first would be cremated by the other in what was then theJoshua Tree National Monument, an area ofdesert they both loved and cherished.

Grand Theft Parsons
Theatrical poster
Directed by	David Caffrey
Written by	Jeremy Drysdale
Produced by	Frank Mannion
Starring	Johnny Knoxville Michael Shannon Christina Applegate
Cinematography	Robert Hayes
Edited by	Mary Finlay Alan Roberts
Music by	Richard G Mitchell
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates	6 November 2003 (2003-11-06) (London Film Festival) 21 January 2004 (2004-01-21) (Sundance Film Festival)
Running time	88 min
Countries	United States United Kingdom
Language	English

The death of singer Gram Parsons prompts Phil Kaufman to fulfill his promise and ablack comedy unwinds, with Kaufman bribing mortuary personnel, renting a psychedelic hearse from Larry Oster-Berg, and trekking across the southern California desert, pursued all the while by Parsons' ex-girlfriend with Kaufman's girlfriend and Parsons’ stepfather.

• Johnny Knoxville asPhil Kaufman
• Christina Applegate as Barbara
• Michael Shannon as Larry Oster-Berg
• Marley Shelton as Susie
• Robert Forster as Stanley Parsons
• Gabriel Macht asGram Parsons
• Phil Kaufman as Handcuffed Felon

Grand Theft Parsons was shown in the "Park City at Midnight" section at the 2004Sundance Film Festival.^[1]

On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, 46% of 28 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.4/10, earning it a "Rotten" score. The website's critics consensus reads, "Grand Theft Parsons pays tribute to a rock legend without following biopic formula -- and proves that a unique perspective doesn't always mean a worthwhile film."^[2] OnMetacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[3]

In his review forThe New York Times,A. O. Scott wrote, "Parsons himself might have written a surreal, funny-sad ballad about the aftermath of his own death, butGrand Theft Parsons is little more than a surreal anecdote, told in too much detail and without enough soul or imagination to make anything more than a footnote to a legend".^[4] Kimberley Jones, in her review for theAustin Chronicle, wrote, "Black comedy can be a beautiful thing, butGrand Theft Parsons consistently misses that mark for a more bottom-feeding tasteless and broad, with the occasional ham-handed, soulless stab at sober reflection".^[5] In his review for theLos Angeles Times, Kevin Crust found Johnny Knoxville "surprisingly good" but felt that the script left "a lot to be desired, strewn with dialogue as flat and stale as old beer and some invented characters who make the events depicted seem more silly than anarchic".^[6]

However, in his review for theSunday Times, Bryan Appleyard wrote, "Grand Theft Parsons is a delight, a comic tragedy that, though it does not say much about Parsons's art, says a great deal about the context in which it emerged".^[7]Time Out London found that the film "hit on a pleasing vein of deadpan stoner humour, especially in the character of a hearse-driving hippie who comes along for the ride" and "could easily become a cult favourite".^[8] TheDaily Mirror wrote, "It's a mark of this movie's tremendous charm that, as the flames rise towards the sky, the ending seems gloriously happy".^[9]

• Official site
• Grand Theft Parsons atIMDb
• Grand Theft Parsons atRotten Tomatoes
• Grand Theft Parsons atBox Office Mojo