| Joy Ride | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | John Dahl |
| Written by | |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Jeffrey Jur |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Marco Beltrami |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $23 million[1] |
| Box office | $36.6 million[1] |
Joy Ride (titled asRoad Kill in the United Kingdom andRoadkill in Australia)[2] is a 2001 Americanpsychological horrorthriller film directed byJohn Dahl from a screenplay byClay Tarver andJ. J. Abrams. It starsSteve Zahn,Paul Walker, andLeelee Sobieski. In the film, two brothers and their childhood acquaintance must escape apsychopathic killer after pranking him on theirCB radio during aroad trip.
Production on the film began in July 1999, after Sobieski and Dahl were hired and Tarver and Abrams completed the screenplay. Casting was extensive, with multiple actors considered prior to Walker and Zahn signing onto the project. Abrams also acted as the film's producer.Principal photography took place in Nevada, California, and Utah.
Joy Ride was produced byRegency Enterprises,Bad Robot andLivePlanet, premiered at the26th Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2001, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 5, by20th Century Fox. It grossed over $36.6 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who praised Dahl's direction, the screenplay, and performances of the cast. It was nominated forBest Action, Adventure, or Thriller Film at the28th Saturn Awards.Joy Ride has since become acult classic and spawned twodirect-to-video sequels,Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead (2008) andJoy Ride 3: Roadkill (2014), each featuring a different cast.[3]
While traveling fromCalifornia toColorado to pick up his childhood friend and crush Venna, Lewis Thomas reluctantly stops inSalt Lake City after he learns his estranged brother Fuller has been arrested. Lewis bails him out and Fuller tags along for the ride.
Fuller has aCB radio installed in Lewis's car and the two begin listening in on truckers' chatter. Fuller coaxes Lewis into playing a prank on a truck driver nicknamed Rusty Nail, asking him to pretend to be a woman named Candy Cane. They set up a meeting with Rusty Nail in a motel where Lewis and Fuller are spending the night; they tell Rusty Nail that Candy Cane will be in room 17, the room of a disrespectful businessman with whom Fuller had an encounter at the front desk. When Rusty Nail arrives, the brothers listen from the adjoining room; an argument and sounds of a scuffle are briefly heard.
The next morning, Lewis and Fuller learn that the police found the businessman on the highway, leaving him in a coma with his lower jaw ripped off. Lewis admits they were involved and Sheriff Ritter accosts them for their role in the incident, but lets them go. Back on the road, Rusty Nail is heard again on the radio looking for Candy Cane. Lewis reveals the prank to Rusty Nail and Rusty Nail demands an apology, but Fuller insults him instead. Rusty Nail then notes they should get theirtaillight fixed, indicating he is following them.
They drive to a nearby gas station and unsuccessfully attempt to contact Sheriff Ritter. Seeing an ice truck pull into the gas station, they flee from the scene into a dead end, with the truck driver chasing them. The driver turns out to be a kind stranger trying to return Lewis's credit card, which he left behind in panic. The real Rusty Nail then drives through the ice truck and, as he slowly crushes Lewis's car against a tree, Fuller hysterically apologizes. Rusty Nail drives away, declaring his actions to be simply a retaliatory joke.
Believing themselves safe, the brothers arrive in Colorado and pick up Venna. They stop at a motel and, as Lewis falls asleep, Rusty Nail calls his room, revealing he has noticed Venna has joined them. They flee from the motel, but see messages from Rusty Nail spray painted on road signs, instructing them to look in the trunk; they find the CB radio Fuller had previously thrown from the window of the car. Rusty Nail then contacts them again via the radio, announcing that he has kidnapped Venna's friend Charlotte, and he directs them to a cornfield where the three get split up. Rusty Nail kidnaps Venna.
Rusty Nail sets up a meeting at another motel in room 17, mirroring the false date with which he was pranked. He sets up a trap that will kill Venna if the room door is opened. Fuller attempts to get in the room by a back window, but is injured by Rusty Nail and gets stuck outside. Lewis attempts to free Fuller as the police arrive to help Venna. Meanwhile, Rusty Nail's truck appears uphill and begins rolling down towards the motel. The brothers free Venna in time and everyone escapes as the truck crashes into the motel. As the police investigate Rusty Nail's truck, they see a dead body in the driver's seat and Charlotte, still alive, in the back.
While Lewis, Fuller, Charlotte, and Venna are treated for their injuries on scene, they learn that the dead man inside the truck was the ice truck driver who returned Lewis's credit card. From the CB in the ambulance, the group hears Rusty Nail's voice, learning that he is alive and free.[2]
On the DVD release, there is a 29-minute-longalternate ending, and four other shorter alternate endings. The main one featured Rusty Nail's shotgun suicide and numerous bodies are found by the police in his trailer. One featured Rusty Nail being arrested, another being beaten in a fight with both Thomas brothers, another in which he is blown up in his truck, and another saw Rusty Nail run over with his own truck. The ending featured in the actual theatrical cut of the film is the only ending in which Rusty Nail lives. There are also numerousdeleted scenes.
In the alternate ending where Rusty Nail's truck explodes, there is a water tower behind the truck as it burns. The original intention was to have the truck hit the water tower and have the water come down and put the flames out so that it would be believable if Rusty Nail survived. However, time constraints kept the scene from being filmed. The water tower cost over $100,000.
Sobieski filmed two romantic interludes, one with Zahn and one with Walker during the shooting and re-shooting of the film. Both scenes ended up getting cut. This may explain why Venna appears to be romantically interested in both of them.
In July 1999, it was announced thatLeelee Sobieski was set to star inSquelch, the film'sworking title, withJohn Dahl directing from a screenplay byClay Tarver andJ. J. Abrams. The other parts had not yet been cast, althoughTobey Maguire[a] andSteve Zahn were understood to have been offered roles.[4] In the next month,Paul Walker joined the cast alongside Sobieski and Zahn. The film's budget was initially reported to be $20 million.[5]
Joy Ride was produced by Abrams andChris Moore, whileArnon Milchan,Patrick Markey, and Bridget Johnson served as executive producers. The film was shot inNevada,California, andUtah.[6]
The film premiered in the Special Presentations section of the26th Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2001.[7] It was released in the United States on October 5, 2001, and in theUK under the titleRoad Kill[2] on April 26, 2002, and inAustralia asRoadkill.[2] The alternate titles were because of the negative connotations of “joy rides” as stealing cars rather than fun roadtrips.[2]20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released aspecial edition DVD on March 12, 2002.[8]
In 2019,Rupert Murdoch sold most of21st Century Fox's film and television assets toDisney. However, much ofJoy Ride's underlying rights were with production companyRegency Enterprises rather than Fox, and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation are not mentioned as one of the copyright holders in the credits.[9] At the time of the sale, Fox had a 20% stake in Regency Enterprises, and this 20% stake was transferred to Disney when they purchased the Fox entertainment assets.[10]
Joy Ride grossed $21,974,919 in the United States and Canada, and $14,667,919 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $36,642,838.[1]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 74% of 116 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "A well-constructed B-movie thriller,Joy Ride keeps up the necessary level of tension and chills. Critics also liked Zahn's performance as the goofball older brother."[11]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[12] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[13]
Kevin Thomas of theLos Angeles Times called the film "terrific escapist fare, stylish, outrageous and compelling." Thomas stated, "Joy Ride is a high-wire act, full of risks and shameless in resorting to old ploys only to put a fresh spin on them. As an action comedy played at the darkest pitch,Joy Ride is a plus for all concerned, especially its actors."[14]
A. O. Scott ofThe New York Times wrote that the film "is much more effectively terrifying than the usual overplotted, underwritten Hollywood thriller." Scott also commented, "It's also surprisingly funny, thanks to a playful script by Clay Tarver and J. J. Abrams and a mischievous performance by Mr. Zahn."[15]
Roger Ebert ofThe Chicago-Sun Times awardedJoy Ride three and a half stars out of a possible four, and described the film as "a first-rate pure thriller" which was "anchored by convincing characters in a halfway plausible setup." He had a few minor "quibbles" about aspects of individual scenes, but also said the climax was "relentlessly well-crafted".[16]
Stephen Hunter ofThe Washington Post opined, "In noir, everybody's guilty, and that's one of the pleasures ofJoy Ride" and "The flaw inJoy Ride isn't the ride at all — that's the cool part — but the arrival. The movie, like so many other American products of late, turns dully obvious at the end. […]Joy Ride, as much fun as it conjures, just ends up going no place fast."[17]
Desson Howe ofThe Washington Post remarked, "The story, although it's scripted with impressive gravitas by Clay Tarver and J.J. Abrams, seems more like a conduit for suspense. That's why I call this movie an "exercise," because Dahl is almost playfully trying to scare the bejesus out of you.Joy Ride is about running — or driving — for your life, plain and simple."[18]
Lisa Schwarzbaum ofEntertainment Weekly stated, "Joy Ride zigzags across the conventions of genre, occasionally driving on the shoulders of black humor — it's a road movie for the way we process suspense today, and very recognizably the zany-brainy work of John Dahl, the urbane neo-noirist."[19]
Joe Leydon ofVariety called the film a "hot-wired, white-knuckle thriller" and wrote that it "maneuvers more smoothly, and avoids plot holes more consistently, as it steadily gains momentum while speeding through familiar territory."[20]
Paul Lê ofBloody Disgusting opined, "The film yields every now and then so viewers can catch their breath, but once this taut and frantic thriller picks up speed again,Joy Ride earns its place as one of the best movies of its kind."[21]
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1stGolden Schmoes Awards | Best Horror Movie of the Year | Joy Ride | Nominated |
| Most Underrated Movie of the Year | Nominated | |||
| 2002 | 28th Saturn Awards | Best Action, Adventure, or Thriller Film | Nominated | |
| 10thFangoria Chainsaw Awards | Best Wide-Release Film | Nominated | ||
| Best Score | Marco Beltrami | Nominated |
