U Turn

I used to be a pretty big fan of these US black comedies, right before I got serious about film. It's been a very long time since I last watched U Turn, and while I still appreciated large parts of it, it doesn't quite hit me the same as before (had very similar experiences with Wild Things and Very Bad Things).

A man is traversing the Arizona desert, when his car breaks down. He manages to reach a remote town, but the guy at the garage isn't very helpful and it seems he'll be stuck there for a while. The longer he remains in town though, the more trouble he gets himself into. And that's even before his past catches up with him.

Penn is fun in the lead, and it's quite amusing to see his character gradually getting more and more messed up as time passes. The film's a bit long though, and some scenes don't add all that much to the film's core appeal. The finale also lacks that little extra to push it over the edge, but other than that, good fun.