It's summer vacation, and college freshman Lewis Thomas (Paul Walker) is ready to embark on a cross-country road trip with the girl of his dreams, Venna (Leelee Sobieski). But Lewis' romantic plans are detoured when he stops to rescue his never-do-well older brother, Fuller (Steve Zahn). Fuller, notorious for causing trouble, goads Lewis into playing a practical joke on a lonely trucker over a CB radio. The trucker, an unseen and terrifying force known only by his handle, "Rusty Nail," wants the last laugh ... and revenge. [source: 20th Century Fox DVD]
Director John Dahl takes a page from Steven Spielberg's Jaws in this buddy/road/thriller. Spielberg created tension by not letting us see the great white until more than halfway through the movie. Dahl goes one step further by never showing us the villain in his movie "Joy Ride."
The plot is simple enough. Paul Walker plays Lewis, a California college student who is suddenly inspired to pick up his best-friend Venna (Leelee Sobieski) from Boulder and head back East for the holidays. But before he picks up Venna, Lewis heads to Salt Lake City to bail out his older brother, Fuller (Steve Zahn), on drunk and disorderly charges. Along the way, Fuller convinces Lewis to spend $40 on a citizen ban radio and eventually to portray a sex-starved female trucker with the handle Candy Cane. As Candy Cane, Lewis makes a date with a trucker named Rusty Nail (The Silence of the Lambs's Ted Levine). Candy Cane directs Rusty Nail to room 17 of a roadside motel, which both Lewis and Fuller know will be occupied by a rather large, obnoxious, and easily irritable man. The pranksters happen to be in the room next door.
But this is one prank that goes horribly wrong. It seems Rusty Nail has some anger management issues and is soon leaving victims in his wake. Rusty Nail learns the identity of his antagonists and quickly focuses his vengeance on Lewis and Fuller. Several intense and well executed action sequences soon follow, and this buddy/road picture moves into new territory. Eventually Lewis and Fuller toss their CB radio and lose Rusty Nail long enough to swing by Boulder for Venna. After a night of drinking in some-off-the-road-redneck tavern, Rusty Nail returns to pull pranks on our heroes and cause general mayhem. More action sequences follow, and although well executed, we must ignore common sense and logic - albeit briefly. The movie builds tension as it ends in another roadside motel with the tables turned on Lewis and Fuller.
Paul Walker turns in a peculiar performance. Serviceable? Yes, but when his "best-friend" is Leelee Sobieski, with whom Lewis has never made a move on, and Lewis seems to have more fun pretending to be a woman, this reviewer starts to question his sexual orientation.
In contrast, we know right away where Steve Zahn's Fuller stands. He seems to attract trouble, but remains goofy and wisecracking throughout. And while Lewis is sleeping one off, Zahn's Fuller is making his move on Venna (see the DVD's deleted scenes to find out if he's successful).
Speaking of the DVD, if you get a chance, I recommend that you watch the alternate ending. It has our heroes in hand-to-hand, rough and tumble combat with Rusty Nail. The alternate ending, in my opinion, has some better qualities than the theatrical ending. But when "Joy Ride II" and "III" are possibilities, I can see why the studio selected the ending that wound up in the theatrical release.
This is a horror movie that may not be considered a horror movie by many. As I've mentioned, we never see the villain, and there is not one "quality kill." In fact, we never even see any of the victims meeting their demise. But even in the absence of all of these elements, the director, John Dahl, must be credited for making a thrilling, funny, pseudo-horror movie.
