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The Age of Commercialism

A different way of telling a story

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Danny Devlin (Fahey) and his buddy Ziggy Rotella (Russo) are in a small-time gang, and they decide to rob 1.2 million dollars from mob boss Gianni Grasso (Miano). However, Mo (Busey), who works for Grasso, double-crosses him by talking to Danny and Ziggy. Grasso's men go after them, and eventually Danny, Ziggy, and Gillette (Williams), the third gang member, end up in small-town Rosalia, where Danny grew up. It turns out his mother died and left him the family dairy farm, and it's in her will that he must tend to it. While back in his old stomping grounds, he reconnects with past family members such as Mel (Thomerson), Daniella (Wood), and his brother Burl (Madsen), who is the sheriff in town. Will Danny go straight, or will the temptation of future heists and crimes be too strong? When we first saw that there was a movie that had this amazing cast, obviously we were intrigued. And the icing on the cake comes when you're watching the opening credits, and after the extensive list of familiar names, the final credit is "Directed by Joey Travolta!" (I added the exclamation point. Sadly that's not on his actual screen credit). You'd think, "how could this possibly go wrong?" Well, unfortunately, Detour falls prey to Lone Tiger (1999) Syndrome, which we've talked about before, which means that just because a movie has an impressive cast, doesn't mean the movie itself is going to be any good. Sometimes it's even a substitute for good writing and direction, and they hope the audience won't notice.Joey Travolta seems to be more talented in front of the camera than behind it, as evidenced by his role in Wilding: The Children Of Violence (1991). Disappointingly, Detour is just one of many 90's Tarantino knockoffs. It tries too hard to be cool, and every other scene has some annoying "alt-rock" song of the time on the soundtrack. No one in the cast of fan favorites can save the uninspired writing. Busey and Madsen come off best, however - Busey slightly more low-key by his standards, and Madsen does what Madsen does, that is, look bored and contemptuous of even having to be there. But somehow when he does it, it totally works. Fahey goes a bit over the top at times, and even though this is supposedly an action movie of some kind, there are scenes of farm work - yes, FARM WORK - when other stuff should be going on to capture the viewers' interest and imagination.The movie also falls prey to some other common DTV pitfalls, such as the fact that many scenes are underlit and it's too dark to see anything. That just adds to an overall junky look and feel. But on the bright side, Gary Busey wears pajamas the whole time, and James Russo has an evil hat. Take for instance a scene in a kitchen where Fahey and Thomerson are talking. On top of the refrigerator, there is a can of a Mr. Peanut product that we think are called "Zonks", but it's too dark to really tell. This can of Mr. Peanut Zonks (?) steals focus from the supposed drama going on. "Does that really say 'Zonks'?" "I don't know, I can't read it...I hope it says Zonks...but I've never heard of Zonks..." "Maybe they're only sold in Canada." "Who is a better mascot, Mr. Peanut or the Pringles man?" "Mr. Peanut, because he has a top hat, a monocle, cuffs, a cane, and can do things, like dance around. All the Pringles guy has is a mustache". That's OUR dialogue, not from the movie. In other words, Mr. Peanut out-acts some of our favorite people this time around.An amazing, once-in-a-lifetime cast is squandered because they didn't have good material to work with. Ultimately, this is wasteful of the talented cast, so avoid this Detour into lameness.For more action insanity, please visit: www.comeuppancereviews.com

But are they really bad to the bone? Jeff Fahey, James Russo and Darnell Williams play a gang of thieving thugs in black leather jackets and old blue jeans. Gary Busey is the accomplice with a thing for silk pyjamas. The real badguys are mobsters in suits. Michael Madsen, disappointingly, only gets to play the alcoholic cop who looks like Elvis in decline. Throw in a mob of good-hearted farmers, and there's your cast.I thought I'd worked out the ending half way through, but I was wrong.

When Danny and his gang attempt to rob the warehouse of a mob boss, they find themselves on the run. Danny goes back to his hometown to find his mother has recently died leaving him the farm on the condition that he must open the dairy and run it for two years. However the gang is double crossed by Mo and the mob begin to hunt them down, meanwhile Danny and his gang consider robbing the mill in his town.This is a very low rent film! It's a thriller that is very slow and dull, with no tension or action to write home about. The story is mostly about Danny going home and learning to be a nice guy again and starting to farm - the plot about the mob and the temptation of the "one-last-job" is almost a sideplot. That makes it feel so boring and slow. The action itself is uninspired - a house blows up, big deal.The characters are stereotypes - the mob guys are a joke - and the performances match the material. I like Jeff Fahey, however this type of stuff is part of the reason he never gets big roles, he is poor in a poor film. And what is it with Gary Busey in Fahey films? In Lethal Tender he appeared to be in a different film and the same is true here. His character Mo only has a few scenes and all of them in his flat - to Busey this must have represented an easy week on set at most. Michael Madsen shows why he hasn't build on his cult success in Reservoir Dogs in a very, very lazy role.Overall a very dull film that is bookended by action to try and make it interesting. This is bad even by Jeff Fahey's dubious standards.

Being a giant fan of Fahey and Busey I found this impossible not to miss.The film itself has many bad qualities. The sound is all over the place. The levels peak mid shot and the mics pick up annoying chunks so sound, like Fahey leather jacket making that leather-jacket-sort-of-noise. The amount of footaged re-used is amazing. I can think of a least 5 glaring examples.However, then there is the cast and plot. Fahey (who supports the film perfectly) is great is a role that he can play in his sleep. Busey limited usage shows and his pyjamas are exceptional. Russo really only shines in the action sequences. Madsen give a good as he wants (which I don't believe is very much) as the charater has very little to do and didn't require someone like Madsen to play it.If you can manage to endure the technical problems this turns out to be a fairly enjoyable waste of time.