Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

revbighig Don't compare this with Pulp Fiction, or any other movie for that matter. Just watch it, not as a critic, but as a peeping tom looking into the real lives of real people. There are many times I prefer unknown actors in a movie because I can avoid preconceptions and watch the characters, not the actors. Yet even though I knew quite a few of these actors, I was able to lose myself in the people they created -- real people, like many I've met, hung with, talked to, cared about. I enjoyed this film, the laughs, surprises, interactions and shocks and I think reg'lar fellas (and gals) will too. It's kicking around Showtime, and you should catch it.

merklekranz I liked this movie because of it's excellent character development. All except the serial killer were interesting people. However, the main protagonist was the least developed character, and that weakened the whole film. The converging story lines maintained interest for the most part, other than a couple overlong stories that were nothing more than padding. The last scene in the radio station was totally unnecessary. Acting was above average, and the desert locations felt right. When the characters eventually meet their destiny, it is handled far better than many mainstream movies. A little script tightening, and more development of the killer would have improved what is already an above average film. - MERK

carlacryptic This is one of the best films I've seen which I've never been able to turn other people on to. It doesn't seem to exist as a video or DVD rental. I think that's a travesty. It is definitely a sleeper but, unlike the other commenter, I don't see it as being anything like Pulp Fiction.. In fact, one of the reasons I like this film so much is that it deals with extraordinary things which happen to, and because of, ordinary people bumping up against circumstance and a serial killer. Somehow serendipity threads through everything in a way which I really liked. I'm a big Robert Forester fan and especially love the films he has made in the past 15 years or so. He plays the kind of person I like to meet in real life and that's pretty rare. One other thing I love about this film is the cinematography, especially fun being the first 15 or twenty minutes of the film. No spoilers! Just watch it if you get a chance. I keep hoping it'll come back on cable so I can see it another time.

Movie-12 OUTSIDE OZONA / (1998) **1/2 (out of four)By Blake French: "Outside Ozona" wanders just a little too much to warrant a recommendation. It's a solid attempt from first time director and screenwriter J.S. Cardone; he creates a sordid environment for his characters and often provokes a real sense of community and compassion, but there are just too many characters and too little of a plot to carry them through. I enjoyed much of the film, enough to call this movie a close miss-but I cannot recommend a movie that doesn't know what it's about. There is so much material here, the thin plot threads quickly break apart, and the audience is the group who wishes there we're some kind of boundaries to keep everything together. The movie takes place during a single night on the stretching deserted highways outside Ozona, Oklahoma. We meet a lot of characters, too many, that all seem to live separate lives unrelated to the others. There's a circus clown (Kevin Pollack) who gets mad when he's fired, but becomes even more angry when he discovers his stripper girlfriend (Penelope Ann Miller) has previously slept with his boss to help save his job. There is a lonesome truck driver (Robert Forster) who lends a helping hand to a Navajo Indian woman, whose grandmother (Keteri Walker) is dying. Two bitter sisters (including Sherilyn Fenn) who pick up hitchhiker (David Paymer) who may or may not be a serial killer roaming the highways. The film makes several attempts to connect these stories, which we cut back and forth from throughout the film. One of those attempts deals with a disco jockey on his last strings (Taj Mahal), whose boss (Meat Loaf) isn't happy that his radio station has become under the heat of higher powers. Another attempt is the film's climax, in which all of these stories come to a literal crash. This is disposable and needless. It concludes the various circumstances, but doesn't succeed in bringing them together for a final showdown. It's kind of a disappointment. There are many scenes in which the various characters exchange lengthy conversations that really don't further the plot. But is there really a central plot? Not really. Perhaps that's why the movie doesn't work, because it has no focus, no purpose to build the tension, no story to develop. This is a simple character study. One that often becomes violent (there are some graphically bloody images) gratuitous (there's a scene in a strip club that involves so much unwarranted nudity it feels awkward), and boring (look up "talking heads" in a film analysis book and you'll probably find references to this film). Some of the characters are interesting, but with so many, the film doesn't know which ones. After all of this I forgot to mention the subplot involving the FBI tracking down a serial killer who brutally murders young women as a means of religious rituals. When you forget a subplot that major and important, you know the film's plate is a little too full.