American Strays

'American Strays' is part of the quirky road movie sub-genre in the vein of 'Highway 61', 'Motorama' and 'Roadside Prophets', only it isn't anywhere near as good as those overlooked efforts. A self-conscious, contrived gallery of eccentric characters derived from equal parts David Lynch, and the Coen brothers, with some sub-Tarantinoesque dialogue thrown in. This movie tries much too hard in some ways and not hard enough in others, making it way too uneven and self-indulgent to satisfy either a mainstream or cult audience. When it does have a decent idea (e.g. Luke Perry's failed suicidal slacker hiring 'The Exterminator' to do the job for him) it goes nowhere with it, and every potentially interesting bit is sabotaged by lame and silly schtick like Jon Savage's serial killer vacuum cleaner salesman. Just about the only reason to watch this is for one of the oddest and most eclectic casts assembled in recent years. They range from cult heroes like Luana Anders ('Dementia 13'), Sam Jones ('Flash Gordon) and the late Brion James ('Blade Runner'), dependable character actors like Joe Viterelli ('Heaven's Prisoners'), Jennifer Tilly ('Bound'), and James Russo ('Donnie Brasco'), coulda been contenders turned b-grade slummers Eric Roberts ('Runaway Train') and Jon Savage ('The Deer Hunter'), and left field picks like Luke Perry ('90210'), Melora Walters ('Magnolia') and Patrick Warburton ('Seinfeld's Puddy). Apart from the spot-the-actor aspect, there's not a whole lot to recommend this movie.

I found a copy of this movie paired on the same DVD with the 1997 Gary Cole movie "Santa Fe". It was an apt pairing, because I found both movies to be extremely strange (though each was strange in its own original way.) Anyway, on to "American Strays"... As others here have pointed out, there is a strong Quentin Tarantino feeling to this movie, with its multiple stories and its quirky characters. Admittedly, with the movie jumping from one story to another every few minutes, the movie certainly never gets dull. But all the same, at the end the movie is somewhat unsatisfying. I think a big problem with the movie is that many of the characters are TOO quirky, coming across as live action cartoon characters instead of believable yet quirky people. Another problem is that while the movie tries to bring all the stories together at the end, there are two stories that don't really have a connection to the other stories that unfold during the movie. This movie really needed a few more rewrites before filming started. It's not an awful movie - as I said, it's not boring - but its unsatisfying edge will probably turn off a mass audience. In the end, the only people who will probably embrace the movie warts and all are those who are big fans of quirky low budget independent movies.

I think American Strays emerged when somebody got drunk in a film editing class and began splicing together outtakes. Bits and pieces from what could have been whole movies got thrown together to make one really disjointed piece of work.

That's all I can say about American Strays. In a sense it's a good title for the movie because it is about strays as the bits and pieces are put together like so much flotsam and jetsam salvaged from an ocean wreck.

A couple of the stories looked interesting like John Savage as the serial killer vacuum cleaner salesman, but in the end the whole thing is just a lot of mish-mash.

Totally original ideas abound in "American Strays". This stylish black comedy where nothing is explained, has converging story lines. Among the bizarre desert travelers are a dysfunctional family, bickering mob figures, a vacuum salesman serial killer, and other quirky characters. The liberal quantities of violence are tempered by a fresh and unpredictable script. Incredible cast, incredible dialog, with above average character development. The beautiful desert locale photography adds immensely, and the soundtrack is memorable. I recommend going into this movie without reading any plot summaries, and simply coming along for the ride with these unforgettable characters. - MERK

Strayed persons in a strayed movie. Six or seven scripts, each ten minutes long, rolled into one pointless movie with no direction or redeeming value whatsoever.

Well, maybe a few laughs here and there. But this has been done better, American Perfekt for example. The title says enough, I guess...