Brooke Adams, Chris Mulkey, David Lansbury

American independent director Allison Anders made her name with this keenly observed tale of a single mother and her two daughters stuck in the truck-stop town of Laramie, New Mexico, barely a fly spe...( read more  read more... )ck on the never-ending desert horizon. Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk star as sisters Trudi and Shade, who couldn't be more different. Trudi rebels against her mother and her soul-numbing life through sex and develops a reputation among the boys for being easy. Shade is the "good girl" who escapes through the overripe Mexican melodramas in the town's largely vacant theater. Brooke Adams, a loving mother hardened by rejection and a demanding job as a truck-stop waitress, tries to hide her loneliness and disappointment and set Trudi on a better path, but as with so many relationships in this film, conflict brings out the worst in them. Anders, a single mother herself, drew on her own experiences to enrich her adaptation of Richard Peck's novel Don't Look and It Won't Hurt, and she brings a haggard understanding to the strained relations between mother and daughter and the bleak desolation to the lives of three women trapped by circumstance, economics, and landscape, but she also reaches deep into the characters to expose their yearnings and steel their resolve. No knight in shining armor for these women, but Anders allows them to make their way through the emotional landscape with pluck and determination. --Sean Axmaker

Flixster Users

73% liked it

1,673 ratings

Critics

75% liked it

12 critics

R, 101 min.

Directed by: Allison Anders

Release Date: July 10, 1992

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DVD Release Date: September 23, 2003

Stats: 74 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (74)


  • July 9, 2008
    Excellent indie outing with some outstanding performances.
  • December 8, 2007
    A great movie!
  • June 14, 2009
    Well acted and it has a moving story. The direction is well thought out, richly developed characters. Good choice of the setting. Good screenplay.
  • December 11, 2008
    ABSOLUTELY GREAT MOVIE
  • August 1, 2008
    Very good film, Shade does a very good job of being the melancholy sister, while Trudi is wild but she can't help it as something bad had happened to her. I found it funny that someone butchered the fingerspelling in the movie when Shade meets Javiers mom.
  • May 8, 2007
    my favorite movie ever!
  • March 27, 2007
    This is a beautiful little indie movie, it is subtle and sweet, its teh first indie i ever saw, and i fell in love.
  • March 14, 2007
    Not a bad film at all, Gas Food Lodging is a great Independent film which deals with the life of 2 teenage girls experiencing things. A well acted drama and well great cast. A movie everyone needs to see. I am impressed with this film.
  • February 5, 2007
    I was really quite bored with this one.
  • August 16, 2006
    I used to watch this all the time in my mid teens, Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk in the same movie? Wow. Allison Anders direction is poignant, you'll wanna movie to a trailer in NM

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Gas Food Lodging Trivia


  • Who starred in Gas, Food, and Lodging and Say Anything?  Answer »
  • Who is the link between "Gas, food, lodging" and the mini series "Lace"?  Answer »
  • Brooke Adams working aa a waitress at a desert truckstop, raising her daughters, Fairuza Balk and Skye Ione in a trailer park. The movie's name:  Answer »
  • Fairuza Balk and James Brolin are daughter and father who haven't seen each other in years. She lives with her waitress mother and older sister in New Mexico, but escapes from her boring existence by watching old movies.   Answer »

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