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Abraham Benrubi, Billy Bob Thornton, Claire Danes

Oliver Stone used such words as "liberating" and "fun" to talk about U Turn's relatively quick production schedule of 42 days. Stone's ideas of film fun, however, are something older gen...( read more  read more... )erations would call sick. This film is a Southwestern noir tale about Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn), a hotshot who is stuck in the tight confines of Superior, Arizona, when his car breaks down. His subsequent adventure is a meatball comedy--loud, obnoxious, and violent, and stuffed with diffused light, a hot cast, and a no-fat Ennio Morricone score. This film has plenty of odd characters, but you never really find out much about them. Bobby's first encounters include a repulsive mechanic (Billy Bob Thornton under the grease) and a blind Indian (Jon Voight under the makeup). Then there's Grace McKenna (a sizzling Jennifer Lopez), who is as dangerous as the curves of her red sundress. Bobby's got time to kill, and Grace seems more than willing. Unfortunately, it seems that Bobby has never seen a movie such as A Touch of Evil; if he had, he would know it can only get worse. About the time Grace's husband, Jake (Nick Nolte), shows up, Bobby is knee-deep in murder plots and double-crosses.

The first 40 minutes or so are "fun" to a point. Penn is the perfect near-creep to root for, and as he wanders back into town after meeting Grace, the eclectic characters pile up. But soon it gets monotonous, tiring, and just plain ugly. And when incest and bloody fights begin, the fun is gone. If Penn weren't so solid an actor and able to be empathetic in the most morose situations, the movie would be unwatchable at stretches. Lopez makes another good impression, but this is not a performance that stands out. Nolte, raspy and ill-looking, is the Lee Marvin of the '90s. Before U Turn is over, you are already wondering if Oliver Stone will do something else, something more important, soon. --Doug Thomas

Flixster Users

60% liked it

27,095 ratings

Critics

55% liked it

44 critics

R, 125 min.

Directed by: Oliver Stone

Release Date: October 3, 1997

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DVD Release Date: March 31, 1998

Stats: 816 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (816)

  • SirPant
    September 22, 2009
    SirPant
    Underrated film, it?s one of my favourite Stone pictures!
  • RiderOfTheStorms
    December 30, 2008
    RiderOfTheStorms
    Funny as hell with great performances
  • FangsFirst
    August 18, 2008
    FangsFirst
    I once saw about the middle third, maybe even half, of this film by chance and was sucked in pretty quickly. I felt a queasy unease and distaste throughout what I saw as everyone backstabbed, doubled back, double crossed, screwed over, lied to and generally stomped all over every...( read more) other soul in the movie--whether it was for any real motivation or just, seemingly, because. I felt very strange about the movie as a whole because of this--generally that distaste for the characters would leave me wishing the film away from my experiences, but in this case it just drew me in with morbid fascination--probably my first real experience of the storytelling elements that compose that much-loved genre known as film noir, albeit in a more modern incarnation.

    Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) is driving through the Arizona desert when the radiator hose on his 1964 (and a half) Mustang convertible blows, and he limps into the only garage he can find, Harlin's. Unsubtly, he rudely acquires the attention of the only man seemingly working there, a rather disgusting bloke by the name of Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton), who peers at him from piles of grease, a potbelly and coke-bottle lenses. Bobby bullies Darrell into fixing his car, then heads into the nearby town of Superior (to what?--real town though) to get something to drink. From there things just spiral further and further downward. He grudgingly buys a Dr Pepper (right on!) for a blind Native American (an unrecognizable, to me, Jon Voight), yelling cheerfully but bluntly at him from the storefront of the main (dirt!) drag of the town, then finds a store from which to buy something to drink, only to discover he chose the perfect time to do so, as the store is robbed. The bag of money he's, as yet inexplicably, carrying is taken from him, only to be lost in the simplest and most frustrating way imaginable, a sign of all of his luck to come. Some of it is blind chance (of the unpleasant kind) and the rest of it is selfish or psychotic machinations by the people around him, from Jake McKenna's (Nick Nolte) "love-hate" relationship with his wife Grace (Jennifer Lopez, before she really, REALLY became famous), to Darrell's vengeful car abuse, on into the suspicious Sherriff (Powers Boothe), and even the sycophantic and imbecilic attentions of Jenny (Clarie Danes), incurring the wrath of Toby N. Tucker (a young Joaquin Phoenix).

    There's a sick black humour to all of it, made clear by ludicrous parallels--Bobby can't even get a bottled drink without having it unreasonably smashed, a piece of bad luck so miniscule in comparison to the rest that one can only see a humourous note to his wretchedly cursed state, by the wisened but profane and slang-filled ramblings of the blind Native American, on into the hilarious diner scene that begins his interactions with ol' "TNT" and his streak of jealousy. Despite this, I continued my old strain of appreciation for Bobby's plight, because while his first interaction is to be an asshole to Darrell, he shows repeatedly later that he is indeed a human being, even if one rather lacking in ethics, or with a skewed sense of them. That appreciation is only enhanced by the fact that the plotting feels absolutely logical; while it's usually quite difficult to get away with the kind of absurd coincidences that can happen in real life in a film (strangely rendered unbelievable in a false context, despite their reality), Oliver Stone manages to keep John Ridley's book (Stray Dogs) and screenplay together and believable. Everything that happens, even as we think, "My god, there's MORE?" comes off as completely reasonable within the framework of the story. I think this is helped by the fact that occasionally something goes right, or someone does something kind that reminds us of the reasonability of this total insanity--and the absolute tangle of endings and mishmashing of intent, consequence and relationship that it comes from is absolutely enthralling in its total absurdity--not Monty Python absurdity, but of the more droll variety, perhaps even closer to the philosophy of absurdism than the surrealist sense of humour.

    Stone uses a style here that is compared to his earlier Natural Born Killers, and is vaguely reminiscent of Tony Scott's most recent stylistic choices. While someone comparing it to Stone's prior work might find this irritating, my freshest memories are more of Scott's last films, which makes this one seem comparably tame in its use of peculiar editing, sidelong cuts of only metaphorically relevant images, various colour filters adn similar tips and snips. As such it was thoroughly pleasant to me, enhancing the experience and highlighting the story itself, rather than distracting from it. Timelapse photography appears repeatedly, almost highlighting the ridiculousness we're witnessing for its irrelevance to the world around us, while closeups of manipulating fingers--a quarter dropped in a phone or jukebox, a key turned or removed, a lock bolted or opened--heighten a neurotic claustrophobia to keep us anchored to Bobby's increasing frustration and panic. Off-kilter low-angle and crooked shots also help to convey the bizarre, unfamiliar and insane nature of this small southwestern town, especially as Bobby sees it, making the viewer uncomfortable with a simple twist of the lens' placement. The sound folks also deserves no small credit for their clever mixing of animal sounds into innocuous places--not an uncommon technique, but here played to be simultaneously heard and mixed, a horse whinny with a scrape of the Mustang, a crow's caws with fatal laughter, and so on. One needn't forget that that beautiful music I kept hearing--well, my response was, afterward, "Oh, Ennio Morricone. Of course!"

    Casting is excellent, as Penn always works in a role as a tortured soul, especially one of questionable morality, managing to keep a sharp tongue balanced by a sense of humanity--witness his backhanded manners in the diner--and a complete openness to vulnerable begging when his life is clearly threatened. Nick Nolte's role is the kind I feel he was bloody well born for. It's one thing for him to be an alcoholic cop (see: 48 Hrs.), but here, as a slightly deranged, money hungry, sickening creep, with grizzled beard and years of experience to bring about an emotional nihilism and self interest he seems inseparable. This isn't a slight against Mr. Nolte (I know nothing of him as a human being, after all!) but rather a statement about the kind of place his face and especially his voice fit. Thornton is the element that gave me the greatest unease in the film, especially the first time I saw it when I didn't know he had been treated poorly at first, having missed the opening sequences. Now I merely saw him randomly adding money to Bobby's financial charges for repair, playing with his car needlessly and generally being an absolute prick, seemingly without motivation. Now even knowing why he did it, I can't escape the slimy feeling he exudes from a character who manages to both be as incalculably stupid as he's accused of being and clever enough to subtly fight back against it, never fully edging completely onto either side, and definitely appearing to have no qualms about overreacting to slights.

    It's not a pleasant movie, and the style will turn some off, but I've liked it quite a bit all three (uh, I think) times I've seen it now--I find that Stone never fails to capture and hold my interest, at least insofar as the films I've seen from his works.
  • rebvodka042099
    June 29, 2008
    rebvodka042099
    Great acting in a not-so-usual movie.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    March 25, 2008
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    Oliver Stone does Lynchian-Peckinpah, and the results are suprisingly good.
  • nazmondo
    November 22, 2009
    nazmondo
    The storyline was ok, but what makes the film, are the brilliant performances by Billy Bob Thornton & Jon Voight. Even though I knew they were in the film, it was only with the end credits did I realise which characters they played, they really transformed themselves. Joaquin P...( read more)hoenix was good too.
  • LelandPalmer
    November 19, 2009
    LelandPalmer
    INCREDIBLE CASTING !!
    SEAN PENN IS AWESOME.
  • doglover000000
    November 9, 2009
    doglover000000
    This is a bizarre film. Sean Penn is brilliant for this role, his character meets some weird and quirky people whilst becoming increasingly unlucky with his life. The town is full of nutters and hes being hunted for the money he owes, he finally sees a way of getting out and then...( read more) its pulled back around to his unlucky streak, which is probably why i found this movie funny.
  • mandfinn
    July 17, 2009
    mandfinn
    I love this film , its a mad one , u wont recognise billy bob thorton in it
  • Beth87sw
    July 7, 2009
    Beth87sw
    i really enjoyed this, i had no idea what to expect having never heard of it untill a fiend lent it to me. it's somethniug a bit diferent for a change. Not quite a thriller, comedy or drama, gteat acting and script, enev from J-Lo!!

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Critic Reviews

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

This is a repetitive, pointless exercise in genre filmmaking -- the kind of movie where you distract yourself by making a list of the sources. full review

January 1, 2000
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

It demonstrates a filmmaker in complete command of his craft and with little control over his impulses. full review

View more U Turn reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • freakmebaby209
    August 26, 2008
    freakmebaby209
    This movie is funny & suspensful at the same time. I loved it. And the ending was great!!
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U Turn Trivia

  • What movie stars Jennifer Lopez and Joaquin Phoenix?  Answer »
  • In what Oliver Stone film does Joaquin Phoenix have 'TNT' shaved into the back of his head?  Answer »
  • Jennifer Lopez starred alongside Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Claire Danes and Joaquin Phoenix in what Oliver Stone Film?  Answer »
  • Who directed the 1997 film U Turn ?  Answer »
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