Outside Ozona

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.

It is a truly offbeat dream-poem of a movie about the loneliness of the open prairie roads on the graveyard shift. The plot winds together several seemingly unrelated storylines united by the fact that all the characters listen to the same two-bit radio station, and seem headed for a common fate. The tension occurs because a serial killer is roaming the highways among the usual losers, misfits, daffodils and lonely hearts.

It's not quite a great movie because it tried to dominate the entire experience with murky tone and forlorn bluesy dialogue, and that is a difficult meal to concoct without grinding it all to cornball mush. The movie is the cinematic equivalent of a sad saxophone wail, and while it had some great moments, that type of mood is sometimes best left to the sax, because expressing it in dialogue can ring false and corny (the Sherilyn Fenn character was an unrealisticly shallow and cardboard cliche, for example).

On the other hand, if you have a taste for the offbeat, you may really enjoy this collection of anecdotes and vignettes. Because of a "this is my song, and I'm going to sing it my way" attitude, it's more interesting than a lot of big budget studio pictures.

A very eclectic cast

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

This movie is like a rural version of Pulp Fiction, where several subplots are drawn together at the end. It's interesting and moves along well, complete with serial killer, stripper, armed robber, budding romances, and a cool DJ. If you liked the kind of subplot dialogues in Pulp Fiction, you'll like this one.

'Outside Ozona', an off-beat dark comedy/thriller directed by J.S. Cardone, is a little gem, brightened by a cast of established Hollywood actors. The story involves a serial killer, pursued by agent Lucy Webb (in a role reminiscent of Frances McDormand, in 'Fargo'), but it is really a character study of a group of people whose lives will be changed forever by the killer, during one eventful night.

Standouts in the large cast include Taj Mahal, as a burned-out deejay at a country music station, who switches the playlist to rhythm and blues, and ruminates about life; Robert Forster, portraying a good-hearted trucker dealing with loneliness following the death of his wife; Kevin Pollack and Penelope Ann Miller (who is EXCELLENT!), as an unemployed circus clown and his dancer/hooker girlfriend; and Sherilyn Fenn (cast WAY against type!), as a shrewish, materialistic woman travelling with her sister to visit their father. As each character's story unfolds, you are drawn into a rich, involving tale of humor, melancholy, and a touch of the macabre!

The film is very well-paced, and will hold your attention, throughout, and the explosive climax is both exciting and emotionally satisfying!

Take a drive down the highway 'Outside Ozona'...you'll enjoy the trip!